AUGUST 4, 2026
Live Feed
Back to database
Case File

CVE-2026-5501

HIGH · CVSS 8.1 EPSS 0.18% Public Exploit

Source: NVD + CISA KEV + EPSS (historical backfill) · Published 2026-04-10 · Last synced 2026-08-04

CyberRota Analysis

This is a high severity vulnerability with a CVSS score of 8.1. It affects Nginx, OpenSSL. Public exploit code or proof-of-concept references have been detected in its references.

Public Exploit Signal

A public exploit, PoC, GitHub repository or Metasploit reference was detected for this CVE.

GitHub PoC Links

Note: these links are listed for security research and verification purposes only.

CVE
CVE-2026-5501
Severity
HIGH
CVSS
8.1
EPSS
0.18%
Nginx OpenSSL

Original NVD Description

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.

Related CVEs

Other vulnerabilities affecting the same vendor(s)