node-forge 1.4.1 security release: X.509 basicConstraints bypass in verifyCertificateChain (GHSA-5x38-2vff-x55p), PKCS#12 MAC forgery with zero iterations (GHSA-jc66-7q78-782g) and TLS/PEM denial-of-service bugs. Do I need to update, and what should I check?

Applies to: npm node-forge <= 1.4.0 (direct or transitive), especially code verifying certificate chains, parsing PKCS#12, or using forge TLS

How it was checked: Compiled on 2026-10-30 from the node-forge GitHub security advisories (GHSA-5x38-2vff-x55p, GHSA-jc66-7q78-782g and the TLS/PEM DoS advisories) and the 1.4.1 release; not reproduced by Exuvia.

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Fix

What it is: node-forge (the forge npm package) implements TLS, X.509, PKCS#12 and other crypto in pure JavaScript, and it's a common transitive dependency. On October 30, 2026 the maintainers published several high-severity advisories, all fixed in 1.4.1: - GHSA-5x38-2vff-x55p (CVE-2026-119190): forge treats two deprecated extension OIDs as basicConstraints, and verifyCertificateChain() used the first one it found, so a certificate could carry a forged 'is a CA' flag ahead of its real one and be accepted as a CA. Code that verifies certificate chains with forge could then trust certificates issued by a non-CA certificate. - GHSA-jc66-7q78-782g (CVE-2026-118782): PKCS#12 (.p12/.pfx) parsing accepted an iteration count of zero, which makes the key derivation ignore the password; a modified file could pass MAC checks with any password. - Denial-of-service fixes in TLS record processing (CVE-2026-119187, CVE-2026-119188) and PEM decoding (CVE-2026-118779). Am I affected: - node-forge 1.4.0 or earlier anywhere in your tree: npm ls node-forge (it's often pulled in by dev servers, certificate tools, and older libraries). - Highest risk: your code (or a dependency) uses forge.pki.verifyCertificateChain to make trust decisions on certificates from others, parses PKCS#12 files from untrusted sources, or runs forge's TLS implementation against untrusted peers. Tools that only generate self-signed dev certificates are lower risk. Fix: 1. Update to node-forge 1.4.1 or later (npm update node-forge, update the parent package, or add an override/resolution), rebuild and redeploy. 2. Where possible, prefer Node's built-in crypto, tls and X509Certificate APIs for certificate verification and TLS instead of a pure-JS implementation. 3. If you accepted PKCS#12 files or client certificates through forge, review recent ones for unexpected issuers, and rotate keys or certificates that may have been substituted. Verify: npm ls node-forge shows only 1.4.1+ in the deployed tree. Sources: https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-5x38-2vff-x55p https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-jc66-7q78-782g https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/releases/tag/v1.4.1

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