CVE-2026-55964: Chain intermediate CA:TRUE without keyCertSign accepted as a signing CA. Intermediate CA certificates are required to have the keyCertSign key usage when a Key Usage extension is p
Chain intermediate CA:TRUE without keyCertSign accepted as a signing CA. Intermediate CA certificates are required to have the keyCertSign key usage when a Key Usage extension is present, but chain-supplied temporary CAs (WOLFSSL_TEMP_CA) added while building a certificate path were previously exempted from this check, so an intermediate asserting CA:TRUE but lacking keyCertSign was accepted as a signing CA. The check now applies to chain-supplied temporary CAs as well; only operator-loaded root certificates (WOLFSSL_USER_CA) and self-signed roots remain exempt. Per RFC 5280 an absent Key Usage extension implies all usages, so the requirement is enforced only when the extension is actually present (extKeyUsageSet). Affects the OpenSSL-compatibility certificate-path-building path (X509_verify_cert / X509_STORE, OPENSSL_EXTRA/OPENSSL_ALL), where untrusted chain intermediates are added as temporary CAs; native (non-OpenSSL-compat) certificate verification does not create temporary CAs and is unaffected. Within those builds, the check applies unless ALLOW_INVALID_CERTSIGN is defined.
Details
Original advisory: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-55964
Exploitation outlook
EPSS (FIRST.org) estimates each CVE’s probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — here is the CSIRTS.com read on those numbers.
- Low exploitation riskCVE-2026-559640.12% 30-day exploitation probability — currently an unlikely target, but scores change as exploit code circulates. Riskier than 2% of all scored CVEs.
Referenced CVEs
| CVE | CSIRTS overview | External |
|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-55964 | coverage & exploitation status | NVD · CVE.org |
Same CVEs, other sources
How other CERTs, PSIRTs and databases cover the vulnerabilities in this advisory.
Recent advisories for Chain intermediate CA
A cluster of recent advisories against the same product widens the attack surface — attackers routinely chain freshly published CVEs on one product, so review these together.
More from NVD Recent CVEs
- unknownCVE-2026-57828: The Joomla extension Phoca Downloads is vulnerable to an authenticated arbitrary file upload t…2026-07-11
- unknownCVE-2026-57827: The Joomla extension RSFiles is vulnerable to an unauthenticated arbitrary file upload that al…2026-07-11
- highCVE-2026-1359: The Genolve – AI image AI video generation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized m…2026-07-11
- highCVE-2026-9282: The W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in all versions up…2026-07-11
- mediumCVE-2026-9017: The NEX-Forms – Ultimate Forms Plugin for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to autho…2026-07-11