Unbounded PBE iteration count when decrypting PKCS#8 private keys
Allocation of resources without limits in password-based private-key decryption (PbeUtilities.GenerateCipherParameters) in Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. bc-csharp before 2.7.0 allows an attacker who can supply an encrypted private key, such as a PKCS#8 EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo or "ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY" PEM file, to cause a denial of service through CPU exhaustion via an iteration count close to 2^31, because the count is taken from the unauthenticated algorithm parameters without an upper bound and the key derivation runs before the password or the data can be checked. PKCS#5 PBES1 and PBES2 (PBKDF2), the PKCS#12 PBE algorithms and CMS password recipients (CmsPbeKey) are affected. Loading PKCS#12 files with Pkcs12Store is covered by CVE-2026-63572, and a zero or negative count with the PKCS#12 algorithms by CVE-2026-63575.
CVE-2026-63578
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-2026-63578
bc-csharp
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-csharp",
"vendor": "Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.",
"product": "bc-csharp",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "0",
"lessThan": "2.7.0",
"versionType": "semver"
}
],
"packageName": "BouncyCastle.Cryptography",
"programFiles": [
"crypto/src/security/PbeUtilities.cs",
"crypto/src/cms/CMSPBEKey.cs"
],
"collectionURL": "https://www.nuget.org/packages/BouncyCastle.Cryptography",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected"
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-63578
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
high
Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics
- Event
- #9545 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date