CVE-2026-5501 Affecting wolfssl package, versions <5.9.1-r0


Severity

Recommended
0.0
high
0
10

Snyk's Security Team recommends NVD's CVSS assessment. Learn more

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.02% (7th percentile)

Do your applications use this vulnerable package?

In a few clicks we can analyze your entire application and see what components are vulnerable in your application, and suggest you quick fixes.

Test your applications
  • Snyk IDSNYK-ALPINE323-WOLFSSL-17037490
  • published29 May 2026
  • disclosed10 Apr 2026

Introduced: 10 Apr 2026

CVE-2026-5501  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Alpine:3.23 wolfssl to version 5.9.1-r0 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream wolfssl package and not the wolfssl package as distributed by Alpine. See How to fix? for Alpine:3.23 relevant fixed versions and status.

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.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1