CVE-2026-5500: Improper Validation of AES-GCM Authentication Tag Length in PKCS#7 Envelope Allows Authentication Bypass
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2026-5500 is a high (CVSS 8.7) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in wolfssl. EPSS estimates a 0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 41.7% of scored vulnerabilities.
Severe, CVSS 8.7 (CVE.org); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources; EPSS 0% (FIRST, 03-11-2026)
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Timeline
- 10-04-2026PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 10-04-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
wolfSSL's wc_PKCS7_DecodeAuthEnvelopedData() does not properly sanitize the AES-GCM authentication tag length received and has no lower bounds check. A man-in-the-middle can therefore truncate the mac field from 16 bytes to 1 byte, reducing the tag check from 2⁻¹²⁸ to 2⁻⁸.
CVSS metrics
7 scores · 5 sources · 2 versions- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated8.7HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- NVDNIST8.7HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated5.9MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- NVDNIST5.9MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- OSV · AlpineEcosystem advisory · calculated5.9MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS trend
Probability
0.48%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
42%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
Increase +0.11 pp
From 0.38% 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 causeAffected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Alpine1 product
- wolfssl< 5.9.1-r0
Debian1 product
- wolfsslAll versions (No fix recorded)
Ubuntu1 product
- wolfsslAll versions (No fix recorded)
Wolfssl1 product
- wolfssl≤ 5.9.0
4 vendors · 4 products