Description
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, validation of an MLS (RFC 9420) external commit's proposal list, org.bouncycastle.mls.protocol.Group.validateExternalCachedProposals, counted the proposals by type and bounded the removed leaf index but never established that the removed leaf had anything to do with the joiner. RFC 9420 sec. 12.2 permits at most one Remove proposal in an external commit, with which the joiner removes an old version of themselves, and requires that where one is present the LeafNode in the commit's path field meet the criteria it would have to meet in an Update for the removed leaf, in particular that its credential present identifiers acceptable for the removed participant. The ordinary proposal-list validator's self-remove rule is deliberately not applied on this path, because a resync commit legitimately removes a leaf the joiner owns, but nothing was put in its place. Any party holding the group's public GroupInfo, which is precisely what an external joiner is meant to be given, could therefore commit a Remove naming any member's LeafIndex and have every member apply it, evicting that member and taking over their slot in the ratchet tree. The credential check that should have prevented this existed only in the gRPC interop harness and so protected no other caller of the public Group.externalJoin and Group.handle API. An external commit carrying a Remove is now accepted only when the removed leaf's credential is identical to the one in the joiner's own new leaf, on both the sending and the receiving side.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legion of the Bouncy Castle | BC-JAVA | 1.73 – < 1.86 | 1.86 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | bouncycastle | 1.86-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
Show 5 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 24.04 LTS | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 22.04 LTS | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | bouncycastle | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP7 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLES 15 SP6 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLES 15 SP5 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLES 15 SP4 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
Show 7 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES for SAP 16.0 | bouncycastle | 1.86-160000.1.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24461-1 |
| SLES for SAP 15 SP6 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLES for SAP 15 SP5 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLES for SAP 15 SP4 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLES 16.0 | bouncycastle | 1.86-160000.1.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:24461-1 |
| SLE HPC 15 SP5 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
| SLE HPC 15 SP4 | bouncycastle | 1.86-150200.3.41.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | bouncycastle | 1.86-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:12090-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | bouncycastle | 1.86-160000.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:22169-1 |
Advisories 5
- WID-SEC-2026-3726 Bouncy Castle für Java: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 11, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:24461-1 Security update for bouncycastle SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Nov 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:22169-1 Security update for bouncycastle SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Nov 1, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2026:4797-1 Security update for bouncycastle SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 21, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:12090-1 bouncycastle-1.86-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Oct 10, 2026