CVE-2026-49457: QUIC has Broken TLS verification
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2026-49457 is a critical (CVSS 9.1) Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in benoitc erlang_quic. EPSS estimates a 0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16.3% of scored vulnerabilities.
Severe, CVSS 9.1 (CVE.org); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources; EPSS 0% (FIRST, 03-11-2026)
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Timeline
- 14-08-2026PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 14-08-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
erlang_quic is a pure Erlang QUIC implementation. Prior to version 1.4.4, the QUIC client did not authenticate the server during the TLS 1.3 handshake. The CertificateVerify signature was not checked, the certificate chain was not validated, and the hostname was not compared against the certificate, so `verify` was effectively a no-op on the client. A man-in-the-middle on the network path could present any certificate and impersonate any server, defeating the confidentiality and integrity of the connection. HTTP/3 uses the same client and was equally affected. Handshakes authenticated by a PSK (session resumption) are not affected, because the peer is authenticated by the PSK binder and no certificate is sent. This is fixed in 1.4.4. The client now verifies the CertificateVerify signature, validates the certificate chain against the trust store (`cacerts` option, the operating system store by default), and checks the hostname. Client `verify` now defaults to on; set `verify => false` to accept any certificate (for example a self-signed test server). No known workarounds are available before 1.4.4. `verify => true` had no effect, and inspecting the certificate after connecting does not help because without the signature check the peer is never proven to own the certificate it presents.
CVSS metrics
2 scores · 2 sources · 1 version- NVDNIST9.1CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS trend
Probability
0.25%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
16%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.25% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.
Not in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root cause- CWE-295Improper Certificate ValidationThe product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
- CWE-297Improper Validation of Certificate with Host MismatchThe product communicates with a host that provides a certificate, but the product does not properly ensure that the certificate is actually associated with that host.
Affected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Benoitc1 product
- erlang_quic< 1.4.4
1 vendor · 1 product
References
1 links- github.com/benoitc/erlang_quic/security/advisories/GHSA-2r8v-p65x-3663X Refsource CONFIRM