SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-59638

In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.85, JSSE hostname verifier CN-fallback enabled by default despite documented opt-in.

CRITICAL 9.3EPSS 0.21%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.21%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.85, JSSE hostname verifier CN-fallback enabled by default despite documented opt-in. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java LTS before 2.73.12, and Bouncy Castle for Java FIPS (BC-FJA) before bctls-fips 1.0.24 (1.0.X series), 2.0.24 (2.0.X series) and 2.1.24 (2.1.X series).

CVSS 4.0
9.3 CRITICALCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/M
EPSS
0.21% probability · 11th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-297
Affected
bouncycastle/bc-java · bouncycastle/bctls-fips · bouncycastle/bouncy castle for java lts
Source
91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.