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 |
|
REFERENCES
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information to CVE-2026-5501.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssl/pull/10102 |
|