High severity · published Oct 3, 2026
CVE-2026-71891
BLS12-381 key validation accepts a public key built on a foreign curve
7.1
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, BLS12_381BasicScheme.keyValidate, and so BLSPublicKeyParameters and every BasicScheme, MessageAugmentation and ProofOfPossession verify and aggregateVerify that gate on it, accepted a public key built on a foreign ECCurve that merely shares BLS12-381's field characteristic. The prime-order subgroup check trusts a point's own curve to name its cofactor, since ECPoint.satisfiesOrder returns true outright when the curve's cofactor is one, so a point on a curve with a different equation and a cofactor forged to one passed keyValidate despite not being a G1 point at all. In BC's pairing implementation such a point contributes the identity in the target group, so an aggregate signature verified against a set of public keys including it is accepted even though it contains no signature for that key and message pair, admitting a phantom signer. keyValidate now first confirms that the point's curve carries exactly the canonical G1 field, equation, order and cofactor before any subgroup check. The issue is reachable only where an application constructs an ECPoint on an explicit, non-canonical curve and accepts it as an authority-bearing key; the standard 48-byte compressed-point decoder always supplies the canonical curve and was never affected.
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 7% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
BC
BC-JAVA · Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.
1.85 before 1.86 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71891
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71891
vendor-advisory
https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE%E2%80%902026%E2%80%9071891
patch
https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/c16bcfdce1f96230261b7c2c8c1e044bfc9d1deb
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