CVE-2026-63578

Unbounded PBE iteration count when decrypting PKCS#8 private keys

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: October 2, 2026 at 07:08 AM UTC
Updated: October 28, 2026 at 02:34 PM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsBc CsharpBouncy Castle for C# (bc-csharp)

Using bc-csharp by Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.?

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Allocation of resources without limits in password-based private-key decryption (PbeUtilities.GenerateCipherParameters) in Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. bc-csharp before 2.7.0 allows an attacker who can supply an encrypted private key, such as a PKCS#8 EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo or "ENCRYPTED PRIVATE KEY" PEM file, to cause a denial of service through CPU exhaustion via an iteration count close to 2^31, because the count is taken from the unauthenticated algorithm parameters without an upper bound and the key derivation runs before the password or the data can be checked. PKCS#5 PBES1 and PBES2 (PBKDF2), the PKCS#12 PBE algorithms and CMS password recipients (CmsPbeKey) are affected. Loading PKCS#12 files with Pkcs12Store is covered by CVE-2026-63572, and a zero or negative count with the PKCS#12 algorithms by CVE-2026-63575.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 2.7.0
Affected range stops below 2.7.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-770

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