Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in Erlang OTP public_key (pubkey_ocsp module) allows forged OCSP responses signed with an expired responder certificate to be accepted as valid.

OCSP response verification in pubkey_ocsp:verify_response/5 and pubkey_ocsp:is_authorized_responder/3 in lib/public_key/src/pubkey_ocsp.erl does not check the validity period (notBefore/notAfter) of the OCSP responder certificate. An attacker who has obtained the private key of an expired CA-designated OCSP responder certificate can forge OCSP responses that Erlang/OTP accepts as valid.

This affects TLS clients using OCSP stapling via the ssl application: a malicious or compromised server can present a revoked TLS certificate together with a forged OCSP response signed by an expired responder key, and the client will accept the revoked certificate as valid. It also affects applications calling public_key:pkix_ocsp_validate/5 directly, where the impact depends on the use case — server-side client certificate validation using this API may allow authentication bypass with a revoked client certificate.

This issue affects OTP from OTP 27.0 before OTP 27.3.4.12, 28.5.0.1, and 29.0.1 corresponding to public_key from 1.16 before 1.17.1.3, 1.20.3.1, and 1.21.1.

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Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

* For TLS clients using the ssl application, disable OCSP stapling by setting {stapling, no_staple} in the client options, or switch to CRL-based revocation checking with {crl_check, true}. * For applications calling public_key:pkix_ocsp_validate/5 directly, validate the responder certificate's validity period in application code before calling the function.

History

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Erlang erlang/otp
Erlang otp
Vendors & Products Erlang erlang/otp
Erlang otp

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Wed, 27 May 2026 14:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in Erlang OTP public_key (pubkey_ocsp module) allows forged OCSP responses signed with an expired responder certificate to be accepted as valid. OCSP response verification in pubkey_ocsp:verify_response/5 and pubkey_ocsp:is_authorized_responder/3 in lib/public_key/src/pubkey_ocsp.erl does not check the validity period (notBefore/notAfter) of the OCSP responder certificate. An attacker who has obtained the private key of an expired CA-designated OCSP responder certificate can forge OCSP responses that Erlang/OTP accepts as valid. This affects TLS clients using OCSP stapling via the ssl application: a malicious or compromised server can present a revoked TLS certificate together with a forged OCSP response signed by an expired responder key, and the client will accept the revoked certificate as valid. It also affects applications calling public_key:pkix_ocsp_validate/5 directly, where the impact depends on the use case — server-side client certificate validation using this API may allow authentication bypass with a revoked client certificate. This issue affects OTP from OTP 27.0 before OTP 27.3.4.12, 28.5.0.1, and 29.0.1 corresponding to public_key from 1.16 before 1.17.1.3, 1.20.3.1, and 1.21.1.
Title OCSP responder certificate validity period not checked in public_key
First Time appeared Erlang
Erlang erlang\/otp
Weaknesses CWE-295
CWE-672
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Erlang
Erlang erlang\/otp
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 6.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: EEF

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-27T15:41:07.758Z

Reserved: 2026-04-29T18:06:33.251Z

Link: CVE-2026-42791

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-27T15:40:33.572Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-05-27T14:16:53.460

Modified: 2026-05-27T14:16:53.460

Link: CVE-2026-42791

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-27T16:30:36Z

Weaknesses