CVE-2026-33936: python-ecdsa: Denial of Service via improper DER length validation in crafted private keys

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-33936 is a medium (CVSS 5.3) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in tlsfuzzer ecdsa. EPSS estimates a 0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 41.7% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded.

Timeline

1. 27-03-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 01-04-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

The `ecdsa` PyPI package is a pure Python implementation of ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) with support for ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm), EdDSA (Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm) and ECDH (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman). Prior to version 0.19.2, an issue in the low-level DER parsing functions can cause unexpected exceptions to be raised from the public API functions. `ecdsa.der.remove_octet_string()` accepts truncated DER where the encoded length exceeds the available buffer. For example, an OCTET STRING that declares a length of 4096 bytes but provides only 3 bytes is parsed successfully instead of being rejected. Because of that, a crafted DER input can cause `SigningKey.from_der()` to raise an internal exception (`IndexError: index out of bounds on dimension 1`) rather than cleanly rejecting malformed DER (e.g., raising `UnexpectedDER` or `ValueError`). Applications that parse untrusted DER private keys may crash if they do not handle unexpected exceptions, resulting in a denial of service. Version 0.19.2 patches the issue.

• CWE-20Improper Input ValidationThe product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.
• CWE-130Improper Handling of Length Parameter InconsistencyThe product parses a formatted message or structure, but it does not handle or incorrectly handles a length field that is inconsistent with the actual length of the associated data.