TLS impersonation via case-sensitive name constraints
Published Apr 30, 2026 · Updated Aug 26, 2026
Certificate-validation bypass in GnuTLS before 3.8.13 allows remote attackers to impersonate restricted TLS services using crafted certificates. lib/x509/name_constraints.c compares DNS labels and email-domain labels case-sensitively, accepting casing variants excluded by X.509 constraints. Exploitation requires a malicious or compromised constrained subordinate CA capable of issuing and presenting the crafted certificate.
Summary
What happened
Certificate-validation bypass in GnuTLS before 3.8.13 allows remote attackers to impersonate restricted TLS services using crafted certificates. lib/x509/name_constraints.c compares DNS labels and email-domain labels case-sensitively, accepting casing variants excluded by X.509 constraints. Exploitation requires a malicious or compromised constrained subordinate CA capable of issuing and presenting the crafted certificate.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-3833
- Published
- Apr 30, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 26, 2026
- Vendor
- 389 Directory Server
- Product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Classifications
- CWE-178, T1557
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 30, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Affected versions are unavailable in this record. Check the vendor advisory for version and patch details.
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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