Description

wolfSSL_X509_verify_cert in the OpenSSL compatibility layer accepts a certificate chain in which the leaf's signature is not checked, if the attacker supplies an untrusted intermediate with Basic Constraints `CA:FALSE` that is legitimately signed by a trusted root. An attacker who obtains any leaf certificate from a trusted CA (e.g. a free DV cert from Let's Encrypt) can forge a certificate for any subject name with any public key and arbitrary signature bytes, and the function returns `WOLFSSL_SUCCESS` / `X509_V_OK`. The native wolfSSL TLS handshake path (`ProcessPeerCerts`) is not susceptible and the issue is limited to applications using the OpenSSL compatibility API directly, which would include integrations of wolfSSL into nginx and haproxy.

INFO

Published Date :

2026-04-10T03:07:39.604Z

Last Modified :

2026-04-10T13:43:04.704Z

Source :

wolfSSL
AFFECTED PRODUCTS

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-5501 vulnerability.

Vendors Products
Wolfssl
  • Wolfssl
REFERENCES

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information to CVE-2026-5501.

CVSS Vulnerability Scoring System

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