CVE-2026-33308 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Mod Gnutls

Mod_gnutls is a TLS module for Apache HTTPD based on GnuTLS. Prior to version 0.13.0, code for client certificate verification did not check the key purpose as set in the Extended Key Usage extension. An attacker with access to the private key for a valid certificate issued by a CA trusted for TLS client authentication but designated for a different purpose could have used that certificate to improperly access resources requiring TLS client authentication. Server configurations that do not use client certificates (`GnuTLSClientVerify ignore`, the default) are not affected. The problem has been fixed in version 0.13.0 by rewriting certificate verification to use `gnutls_certificate_verify_peers()`, and requiring key purpose id-kp-clientAuth (also known as `tls_www_client` in GnuTLS) by default if the Extended Key Usage extension is present. The new `GnuTLSClientKeyPurpose` option allows overriding the expected key purpose if needed (please see the manual for details). Behavior for certificates without an Extended Key Usage extension is unchanged. If dedicated (sub-)CAs are used for issuing TLS client certificates only (not for any other purposes) the issue has no practical impact.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-03-24	—	0.03%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-03-24

—

0.03%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
6.8	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.2	4.0	[email protected]
5.9	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:N) Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine. Attack complexity (AC:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	2.2	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

6.8

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.2

4.0

[email protected]

5.9

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:N): Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

2.2

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-33308

vendor	priority	summary	link
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2026-33308 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (mod-gnutls), 7 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, upstream, xenial): needs-triage 5, DNE 2.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-33308

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-33308

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
mod_gnutls_project	mod_gnutls	< 0.13.0	cpe:2.3:a:mod_gnutls_project:mod_gnutls::::::::

References for CVE-2026-33308

URL	Tags
https://github.com/airtower-luna/mod_gnutls/security/advisories/GHSA-hm2g-m958-8qgh	Mitigation Vendor Advisory

URL

CVE-2026-33308 | mod_gnutls missing key purpose check in client certificate verification

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-33308

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-33308

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-33308

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-33308

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-33308

References for CVE-2026-33308