Answer in brief
CVE-2026-71892 records a Medium severity (CVSS 6.9) vulnerability in CMS key-transport recipient key-size validation never runs for RFC 9709 HKDF-derived keys. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc./bcpkix (generic), Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc./bcpkix-fips (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
Analysis pending evidence review
HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.
CVSS is 6.9. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.
Analysis status
Analysis pending evidence review
Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.
The current feed maps Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc./bcpkix (generic), Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc./bcpkix-fips (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.
| Package | Affected range | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc./bcpkixgeneric | >=1.78 <1.86 | 1.86 |
| Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc./bcpkix-fipsgeneric | >=2.0.7 <2.0.13 || >=2.1.0 <2.1.13 | 2.0.13, 2.1.13 |
Published upstream
Oct 3, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordSource modified
Oct 3, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:recordFirst seen by HOL
Oct 3, 2026
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the opt-in key-size validation on CMS key-transport recipients, org.bouncycastle.cms.jcajce.JceKeyTransRecipient.setKeySizeValidation(true), never ran for a message using RFC 9709 content-encryption key derivation (id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256). The branch that should have selected the actual content-encryption algorithm carried in the key derivation AlgorithmIdentifier's parameters compared the encrypted-key byte array against the id-alg-cek-hkdf-sha256 object identifier, a comparison between a byte array and an ASN1ObjectIdentifier that is false for every possible input, so the check fell through to a key-size lookup on the outer wrapper OID. That OID identifies a key-derivation construction rather than a cipher and has no registered key size, so the size comparison was skipped entirely. A key-transport EnvelopedData or AuthEnvelopedData whose transported, HKDF-derived content-encryption key did not match the key size of the advertised content-encryption algorithm was therefore accepted even with validation explicitly enabled, silently defeating the only mechanism the API offers for enforcing recovered key size. The recipient now dispatches on the content-encryption AlgorithmIdentifier's algorithm OID, so validation checks the recovered key against the inner content-encryption algorithm. Messages with a matching key size, non-HKDF messages, and recipients that do not enable validation are unaffected. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java FIPS (BC-FJA) before bcpkix-fips 2.0.13 (2.0.X series) and 2.1.13 (2.1.X series).
Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.