CVE-2026-59641
Bouncy Castle S/MIME trusts signer-supplied signingTime, enabling validation bypass
Is CVE-2026-59641 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-59641 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.15% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-59641?
CVE-2026-59641 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.7. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-59641?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-59641. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-59641 affect?
CVE-2026-59641 affects Bouncy Castle for Java < 1.85, Bouncy Castle Java LTS < 2.73.12, Bouncy Castle FIPS bcmail-fips/bcjmail-fips < 1.0.7/2.0.7/2.1.7. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-59641?
Upgrade to fixed Bouncy Castle releases (>=1.85, LTS 2.73.12, BC-FJA patched versions)
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Attackers can fake signingTime to bypass S/MIME path/time validation, causing acceptance of expired/invalid signatures and enabling email/message spoofing.
Patch when possible
- affected>= 1.0.0 and < 1.0.7
- affected>= 2.0.0 and < 2.0.7
- affected>= 2.1.0 and < 2.1.7
- affected>= 1.0.4 and < 1.0.7
- affected< 1.85
- affected>= 2.73.0 and < 2.73.12
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.