CVE-2026-59884
Description
A flaw was found in pyasn1, a generic ASN.1 library for Python. The Basic Encoding Rules (BER) decoder, used by CER and DER codecs, processes long-form tags by accumulating continuation octets without an upper bound. A remote attacker can exploit this by providing a specially crafted input, leading to the construction of an arbitrarily large integer. This can cause the CPU cost to grow quadratically, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) for any application decoding untrusted BER, CER, or DER input.
Statement
A flaw was found in pyasn1's BER decoder. The decoder parses long-form tags by accumulating continuation octets without an upper bound, allowing crafted input to force construction of an arbitrarily large integer with quadratic CPU cost. On Python 3.11+, this can also trigger unhandled ValueError exceptions. Exploitation requires that an application passes untrusted BER, CER, or DER input directly to the pyasn1 decoder — pyasn1 is a library and does not independently accept network input. Many common uses of pyasn1 involve parsing trusted certificates or local configuration and are not exposed to this flaw. The realistic impact is a denial-of-service of the consuming Python process, with automatic recovery in typical service deployments.
Mitigation
Update to pyasn1 version 0.6.4 or later when available for your product stream. The impact is limited to availability (denial of service) — an attacker cannot access or modify data. Applications that do not process untrusted ASN.1/BER input are at reduced risk.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.9 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
Adjusted from upstream AC:L (7.5) to AC:H (5.9). pyasn1 is a library, not a network service. Exploitation requires that the consuming application passes untrusted BER/CER/DER input to the pyasn1 decoder, which is not universally the case — many uses involve parsing trusted certificates or local configuration.
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
When allocating resources without limits, an attacker could prevent other systems, applications, or processes from accessing the same type of resource. It can be easy for an attacker to consume many resources by rapidly making many requests or causing larger resources to be used than is needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
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