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CVE-2026-97873NVD

Vulnerability Summary

In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the raw JCA provider's legacy PBES1 (PKCS#5 scheme 1) and PKCS#12 PBE families ran their password-based key derivation with an iteration count taken from untrusted input without bounding it, so a small input could dictate an arbitrary amount of work before anything could be verified. The AlgorithmParameters implementations (PKCS12PBE and its object identifier aliases, and PBKDF1) accepted any count from an encoded PKCS12PBEParams or PBEParameter, narrowing a value beyond the int range with intValue(), and every Cipher, Mac and SecretKeyFactory in these families derived with whatever count it was given, including one decoded by another provider's AlgorithmParameters, as when javax.crypto.EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo.getKeySpec() decrypts a PKCS#12 PBE-protected private key with BC. Both the parameter parse and the derivations now reject a negative or over-limit count under the org.bouncycastle.pbe.max_iteration_count property (default 10,000,000) that already bounded PBKDF2 (CVE-2026-17508), and the parse rejects a count beyond the int range rather than narrowing it. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java LTS before 2.73.13.
Severity Level
MEDIUM(5.3)
Published Date
Oct 3, 2026
Last Modified
Oct 5, 2026
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation yet
EPSS Score (30-Day)
0.26%Probability
Root Weakness (CWE)
Refer to the official MITRE database for detailed architectural specifications regarding this weakness.
CVSS v4.0 Base Metrics — Score 5.3 (MEDIUM)
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Attack RequirementsNone
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionPassive
Confidentiality (Vulnerable System)None
Integrity (Vulnerable System)None
Availability (Vulnerable System)Low
Confidentiality (Subsequent System)None
Integrity (Subsequent System)None
Availability (Subsequent System)None

Affected & Patched Versions

Affected Versions
  • Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA < 1.86
  • Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-LTS-JAVA >= 2.73.0 and < 2.73.13
Patched Versions
  • Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA 1.86
  • Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-LTS-JAVA 2.73.13
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🎁7-Day Free Trial — Try Pro or Team, no card required.
📧Email Delivery — Threat intel straight to your inbox.
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🚨All New CVEs — Be the first to know.
📈EPSS Spike Alerts — Catch rising risk before it peaks.
🎯Custom EPSS/CVSS — Filter noise, focus on risk.
🛡️Exploit Intel — A 2nd confirmed-exploit signal beyond KEV.
🐙GitHub Issues — Auto-tracked, no duplicates.
📬Weekly Digest — One clean summary, not inbox spam.
🏷️Watchlist Groups — Tag alerts by team (Infra/AppSec/SOC).
💬Webhooks — Slack & Teams integration.
🔀Smart Routing — Critical alerts to one channel, rest to another.
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