Skip to content
Heist/ feed
High

MLS membership checks compare a uint32 leaf_index as signed, admitting an out-of-range sender

Type: advisorySource: Official CVE List1 source record

In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the MLS implementation (org.bouncycastle.mls) holds RFC 9420's uint32 leaf_index in a signed int, so a wire value with the top bit set decodes to a negative number. That is a legitimate encoding rather than malformed input, and it must still decode, since the MLS interop test vectors round-trip the full range. GroupKeySet.SecretTree.hasLeaf and Group.validateRemove compared the decoded value directly against the tree's leaf count, and a signed comparison treats any negative int as less than a positive bound, so an out-of-range sender passed the membership check. In the hasLeaf case the SenderData of an unprotected PrivateMessage could then drive LeafIndex.directPath through NodeIndex.parent() arithmetic that never reaches the tree root, growing the resulting node list without bound until the JVM exhausted its heap. A single small message from any current group member could therefore deny service to every other member of the group. Both comparisons now interpret the value as unsigned via Integer.toUnsignedLong, rejecting an out-of-range sender however it was encoded; well-formed leaf indices are unaffected.

Announced Source revision 1
Original source ↗

CVE-2026-17507

Primary source · Revision 1

Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.

Security context

Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-17507

BC-JAVA

Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product

Affected versions
Not stated in this record
Fixed versions
Not stated in this record
Prerequisites
Not stated in this record

Structured affected-version data

Original package identities and version rules from this source.

[
  {
    "repo": "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java",
    "vendor": "Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.",
    "modules": [
      "mls"
    ],
    "product": "BC-JAVA",
    "versions": [
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "1.73",
        "lessThan": "1.86",
        "versionType": "maven"
      }
    ],
    "platforms": [
      "all"
    ],
    "packageURL": "pkg:maven/org.bouncycastle/bcmls-jdk18on",
    "packageName": "bcmls",
    "programFiles": [
      "GroupKeySet",
      "Group"
    ],
    "collectionURL": "https://www.bouncycastle.org/download/bouncy-castle-java/",
    "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
  }
]
Related CVEs
CVE-2026-17507

Source reference: /cveMetadata/cveId

Publisher severity

high

Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics

Event
#8078 · Revision 1
Added to Heist Feed
Publisher date
Read the original announcement