CVE-2026-119186: Forge · AES-GCM authentication bypass via unvalidated tagLength option
Affects node-forgeSource GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.9 Medium : upgrade to 1.4.1 when convenient.
Data as of 31 Oct 2026, 01:55 UTC
Thin evidence
One scorer or none| CNA (GitHub_M) | CVSS 3.1 | 5.9 |
|---|
- Patch
- Available – fixed in 1.4.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:NExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 29 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: 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 30 Oct 2026.
What to do
Upgrade node-forge to 1.4.1.
Affected software
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| npmnode-forge | Affected
| Fixed in
|
Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.
AI-suggested
Upgrade node-forge to version 1.4.1 or later, where the tagLength option is validated against allowed values and invalid lengths cause start() to throw an error. If upgrading is not immediately possible, ensure that tagLength is never derived from untrusted input and always pass a fixed valid tagLength (or omit it to use the default 128 bits). Additionally, verify that the received authentication tag length matches the expected length before calling start(), for example by checking if tag.length === 16 for a 128-bit tag.
Description
A vulnerability in node-forge's AES-GCM implementation allows authentication bypass when the tagLength option passed to the cipher start() method is zero or converts to zero. This causes the authentication tag to be empty, making decipher.finish() return true for any ciphertext and additional data if the supplied tag is empty or missing. The issue is fixed in node-forge version 1.4.1 by validating the tagLength against allowed NIST values.
References
- github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-5cwg-6vw7-rj6p (opens in a new tab)
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-119186 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/commit/236845d96c71207259f91638d0138bba8e2fd624 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/digitalbazaar/forge (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/releases/tag/v1.4.1 (opens in a new tab)