Medium severity · published Oct 3, 2026
CVE-2026-71892
CMS key-transport recipient key-size validation never runs for RFC 9709 HKDF-derived keys
6.9
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the opt-in key-size validation on CMS key-transport recipients, org.bouncycastle.cms.jcajce.JceKeyTransRecipient.setKeySizeValidation(true), never ran for a message using RFC 9709 content-encryption key derivation (id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256). The branch that should have selected the actual content-encryption algorithm carried in the key derivation AlgorithmIdentifier's parameters compared the encrypted-key byte array against the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 object identifier, a comparison between a byte array and an ASN1ObjectIdentifier that is false for every possible input, so the check fell through to a key-size lookup on the outer wrapper OID. That OID identifies a key-derivation construction rather than a cipher and has no registered key size, so the size comparison was skipped entirely. A key-transport EnvelopedData or AuthEnvelopedData whose transported, HKDF-derived content-encryption key did not match the key size of the advertised content-encryption algorithm was therefore accepted even with validation explicitly enabled, silently defeating the only mechanism the API offers for enforcing recovered key size. The recipient now dispatches on the content-encryption AlgorithmIdentifier's algorithm OID, so validation checks the recovered key against the inner content-encryption algorithm. Messages with a matching key size, non-HKDF messages, and recipients that do not enable validation are unaffected. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java FIPS (BC-FJA) before bcpkix-fips 2.0.13 (2.0.X series) and 2.1.13 (2.1.X series).
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-FJA · Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.
2.0.7 before 2.0.13; 2.1.0 before 2.1.13 · source: vendor
BC
BC-JAVA · Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.
1.78 before 1.86 · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71892
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71892
vendor-advisory
https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE%E2%80%902026%E2%80%9071892
patch
https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/be0a7d925c818ef2f338bcec55178b9b6336dfc3
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