dbcve.org
ForgeApplication · Digitalbazaar

CVE-2026-33894

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.4.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Forge (also called `node-forge`) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. Prior to version 1.4.0, RSASSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification accepts forged signatures for low public exponent keys (e=3). Attackers can forge signatures by stuffing “garbage” bytes within the ASN structure in order to construct a signature that passes verification, enabling Bleichenbacher style forgery. This issue is similar to CVE-2022-24771, but adds bytes in an addition field within the ASN structure, rather than outside of it. Additionally, forge does not validate that signatures include a minimum of 8 bytes of padding as defined by the specification, providing attackers additional space to construct Bleichenbacher forgeries. Version 1.4.0 patches the issue.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The node-forge library versions prior to 1.4.0 contain a flaw in RSASSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification that accepts forged signatures for low public exponent RSA keys (e=3). Attackers can construct valid signatures by stuffing 'garbage' bytes within the ASN structure rather than outside it (unlike CVE-2022-24771), and the library fails to enforce the minimum 8-byte padding requirement specified by PKCS#1, enabling Bleichenbacher-style forgeries.

MitigationUpgrade node-forge to version 1.4.0 or later, then audit all code paths that perform RSA signature verification to confirm the fix resolves the vulnerability without breaking existing functionality.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ForgeApplication
Affected:< 1.4.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if node-forge is installed
    Run 'npm list node-forge' or check your package.json dependencies for the 'node-forge' or 'forge' package
    Affected if node-forge is present in the project dependencies with a version below 1.4.0
  2. Determine the exact installed version
    Run 'npm list node-forge --depth=0' to see the installed version number
    Affected if The version displayed is less than 1.4.0 (for example, 1.3.0, 1.2.0, etc.)
  3. Check if RSA signature verification is in use
    Search codebase for usage of forge.pki.rsa.verify, forge.pki.verifyMessage, or any RSA signature verification using node-forge
    Affected if The application uses node-forge to verify RSA signatures (RSASSA-PKCS1-v1_5) on data or certificates
  4. Identify if low public exponent RSA keys are in use
    Examine RSA key configurations or loaded keys to check the public exponent value. Look for keys with e=3
    Affected if RSA keys with public exponent e=3 (low exponent) are being used for signature verification in the application

You are affected if node-forge version is below 1.4.0 AND your application uses it to verify RSA signatures with low exponent (e=3) keys.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.4.0 or later
Fixed in 1.4.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade node-forge to version 1.4.0 or later, then audit all code paths that perform RSA signature verification to confirm the fix resolves the vulnerability without breaking existing functionality.

Recommended fix High confidence

node-forge version 1.4.0

  1. Update the node-forge package to version 1.4.0 or later. For npm, run: npm install [email protected] or npm update node-forge
  2. For yarn, run: yarn add [email protected] or yarn upgrade node-forge
  3. For pnpm, run: pnpm add [email protected]
  4. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds 1.4.0 using your package manager's version check command
  5. Re-test your application's signature verification functionality to confirm forged signatures are now properly rejected
Caveat This is a security-focused upgrade with no expected breaking changes; the fix adds stricter validation that may cause previously accepted malformed signatures to be rejected, which is the intended behavior

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Forge Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,360
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-33894 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-33894 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data