CVE-2026-97873
MEDIUMDescription
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, the raw JCA provider's legacy PBES1 (PKCS#5 scheme 1) and PKCS#12 PBE families ran their password-based key derivation with an iteration count taken from untrusted input without bounding it, so a small input could dictate an arbitrary amount of work before anything could be verified. The AlgorithmParameters implementations (PKCS12PBE and its object identifier aliases, and PBKDF1) accepted any count from an encoded PKCS12PBEParams or PBEParameter, narrowing a value beyond the int range with intValue(), and every Cipher, Mac and SecretKeyFactory in these families derived with whatever count it was given, including one decoded by another provider's AlgorithmParameters, as when javax.crypto.EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo.getKeySpec() decrypts a PKCS#12 PBE-protected private key with BC. Both the parameter parse and the derivations now reject a negative or over-limit count under the org.bouncycastle.pbe.max_iteration_count property (default 10,000,000) that already bounded PBKDF2 (CVE-2026-17508), and the parse rejects a count beyond the int range rather than narrowing it. This issue also affects Bouncy Castle for Java LTS before 2.73.13.
How to fix
TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v4 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 16% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2023-50387 | High | 7.5 | 100% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2019-11478 | Medium | 5.3 | 95% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2019-11479 | High | 7.5 | 92% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-27316 | High | 7.5 | 91% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2022-30522 | High | 7.5 | 90% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2019-9515 | High | 7.5 | 87% | - | Fix |
Common questions
How do I fix CVE-2026-97873?
Upgrade bouncycastle on debian unstable to 1.86-1 or later.
Is CVE-2026-97873 being actively exploited?
Not that we know of. CVE-2026-97873 is not in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Its EPSS score of 0.26% is the estimated probability that it will be exploited in the next 30 days. That is higher than 16% of all scored CVEs.
How severe is CVE-2026-97873?
CVE-2026-97873 has a CVSS v4 base score of 5.3, rated medium. CVSS rates the technical impact if the vulnerability is exploited, not how likely that is, so weigh it alongside the exploit-prediction score when you decide what to patch first.
What does CVE-2026-97873 affect?
Published advisories record a fix for bouncycastle (Debian). Only products with a sourced advisory are listed, so treat this as what we can cite rather than a complete inventory.
Embed a live status badge for CVE-2026-97873
Markdown
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-10-05.