CVE-2026-23992VulnerabilityPublished 22 Jan 2026

CVE-2026-23992: theupdateframework go-tuf · Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature

Affects theupdateframework go-tufSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium : upgrade to 2.3.1 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.9Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 11% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 2.3.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Jan 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade go-tuf and github.com/theupdateframework/go-tuf to 2.3.1.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
theupdateframeworkgo-tuf	Affected >=2.0.0 <2.3.1	Fixed in 2.3.1
Gogithub.com/theupdateframework/go-tuf`pkg:golang/github.com/theupdateframework/go-tuf`Other threats	Affected <2.3.1	Fixed in 2.3.1

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-23992, European organizations should immediately upgrade go-tuf to version 2.3.1 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed. Until upgrading is possible, verify and enforce that all TUF metadata roles have a signature threshold set to at least one, ensuring signature verification is not disabled. Conduct audits of TUF repository configurations to detect any misconfigurations or suspicious changes. Implement strict access controls and monitoring on TUF repositories to prevent unauthorized modifications or configuration changes. Employ integrity monitoring tools to detect unexpected changes in metadata files. Incorporate supply chain security best practices such as multi-party review of repository configurations and cryptographic key management. Additionally, organizations should review their software update processes for dependencies on go-tuf and assess the risk exposure. Training and awareness for developers and DevOps teams on secure TUF configuration can prevent similar issues. Finally, maintain incident response readiness to quickly address any detected compromise stemming from this vulnerability.

Description

CVE-2026-23992 is a medium severity vulnerability in go-tuf, a Go implementation of The Update Framework (TUF). Versions from 2.0.0 up to but not including 2.3.1 allow the signature threshold to be set to 0, effectively disabling cryptographic signature verification. This misconfiguration or compromise of a TUF repository can permit unauthorized modification of metadata files without detection, undermining integrity during storage or transit. No confidentiality or availability impact is directly noted, but integrity is severely affected. The vulnerability requires no authentication or user interaction but has a high attack complexity due to needing repository compromise or misconfiguration. The issue is fixed in version 2.

Impact

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2026-23992 is significant in contexts where go-tuf is used to secure software update mechanisms, particularly in critical infrastructure, cloud services, and software development environments. The vulnerability allows attackers to bypass signature verification, enabling unauthorized modification of update metadata and potentially distributing malicious software updates. This can lead to widespread compromise of systems relying on these updates, undermining trust in software supply chains. While the vulnerability does not directly affect confidentiality or availability, the integrity breach can facilitate further attacks such as malware deployment, data corruption, or persistent backdoors. European entities in sectors like finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and government, which often rely on secure update frameworks, could face operational disruptions and reputational damage. Additionally, the vulnerability could be exploited in targeted supply chain attacks, which are increasingly prevalent in Europe. The medium CVSS score reflects the moderate ease of exploitation combined with the high impact on integrity. Organizations that have not updated to go-tuf 2.3.1 or have misconfigured signature thresholds remain at risk.

CWE-347Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A04:2025: Cryptographic Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product does not verify, or incorrectly verifies, the cryptographic signature for data.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
REST Security (opens in a new tab)
JSON Web Token for Java (opens in a new tab)
REST Assessment (opens in a new tab)
Cross-Site Request Forgery Prevention (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.2 (opens in a new tab)
V3.5.3 (opens in a new tab)
V13.2.6 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Padding Oracle Crypto Attack (opens in a new tab)
Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 29 Jan 2026, 08:51 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-347

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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