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CVE-2026-42790
Published:May 27, 2026
Updated:June 13, 2026
Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in Erlang OTP public_key (pubkey_cert and public_key modules) allows a DNS nameConstraints bypass via subject CommonName fallback in TLS hostname verification. Two flaws combine to allow a subordinate CA whose DNS nameConstraints are restricted (e.g. permitted;DNS:allowed.example.com) to issue a leaf certificate that an OTP TLS client accepts as a valid identity for an out-of-scope hostname (e.g. victim.example.com): First, pubkey_cert:validate_names/6 in lib/public_key/src/pubkey_cert.erl only checks SAN DNS entries against nameConstraints. Per RFC 5280, a permitted DNS subtree only restricts certificates that contain a DNS-typed name. A leaf with no subjectAltName therefore trivially satisfies any permitted;DNS:... constraint regardless of its subject commonName. Second, public_key:pkix_verify_hostname/3 in lib/public_key/src/public_key.erl falls back to the subject commonName when no subjectAltName is present, extracting id-at-commonName attributes as presented IDs and matching them against the reference hostname. The strict pkix_verify_hostname_match_fun(https) matcher does not suppress this fallback. The result is that path validation accepts a CN-only leaf under a DNS-constrained intermediate (no SAN means the nameConstraints are not triggered), and hostname verification then accepts it via the CN fallback. The bypass is reachable from stock ssl:connect with verify_peer, a trusted CA, SNI, and the canonical strict https hostname matcher. This issue affects OTP from OTP 19.3 before OTP 26.2.5.21, 27.3.4.12, 28.5.0.1, and 29.0.1 corresponding to public_key from 1.4 before 1.15.1.7, 1.17.1.3, 1.20.3.1, and 1.21.1.
Affected Packages
https://github.com/erlang/otp.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) =OTP-29.0 <OTP-29.0.1
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version OTP-29.0.1
https://github.com/erlang/otp.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) >=OTP-27.0 <OTP-27.3.4.12
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version OTP-27.3.4.12
https://github.com/erlang/otp.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) >=OTP-28.0 <OTP-28.5.0.1
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version OTP-28.5.0.1
https://github.com/erlang/otp.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) >=OTP-19.3 <OTP-26.2.5.21
Fix Suggestion:
Update to version OTP-26.2.5.21
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CVSS v4
Base Score:
7.6
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Attack Requirements
PRESENT
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
PASSIVE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
HIGH
Vulnerable System Integrity
HIGH
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
NONE
Subsequent System Integrity
NONE
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
6.8
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Improper Certificate Validation
Improper Validation of Certificate with Host Mismatch
EPSS
Base Score:
0.02