CVE-2026-3505 Unbounded PGP AEAD chunk size leads to pre-auth resource exhaustion.
Attackers can cause resource exhaustion in BC-JAVA by sending unbounded PGP AEAD chunk sizes, requiring an upgrade to patched versions.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-3505?
CVE-2026-3505 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA, published on 15 Apr 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Allocation of resources without limits or throttling, Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA bcpg on all (pg modules).
This vulnerability is associated with program files AEADEncDataPacket.Java, BcAEADUtil.Java, JceAEADUtil.Java, OperatorHelper.Java.
This issue affects BC-JAVA: from 1.74 before 1.80.2, from 1.81 before 1.81.1, from 1.82 before 1.84.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-3505?
14 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12, org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 and org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 Maven | All versions to 130 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 Maven | All versions to 130 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 Maven | All versions | 1.84 |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 Maven | All versions | 1.84 |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15 Maven | All versions to 1.46 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15 Maven | All versions to 1.46 | None |
8 more packages
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15on Maven | All versions to 1.70 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15on Maven | All versions to 1.70 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 Maven | All versions | 1.84 |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 Maven | All versions | 1.84 |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk16 Maven | All versions to 1.46 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk16 Maven | All versions to 1.46 | None |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on Maven | All versions | 1.84 |
org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on Maven | All versions | 1.84 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-3505?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-3505 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-3505 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as CLEANSTART-2026-UF42404, CLEANSTART-2026-UH58256, CLSA-2026-1789213301, CLSA-2026-1792700416, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-3505, ECHO-4c5b-c10c-c548 and 13 more.