CVE-2026-3833 | Gnutls: gnutls: policy bypass due to case-sensitive nameconstraints comparison

Exp

A flaw was found in gnutls. This vulnerability occurs because gnutls performs case-sensitive comparisons of `nameConstraints` labels, specifically for `dNSName` (DNS) or `rfc822Name` (email) constraints within `excludedSubtrees` or `permittedSubtrees`. A remote attacker can exploit this by crafting a leaf certificate with casing differences in the Subject Alternative Name (SAN), leading to a policy bypass where a certificate that should be rejected is instead accepted. This could result in unauthorized access or information disclosure.

Published: 2026-04-30 Last update: 2026-06-02 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-3833 is rated Exploit Available (54.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.18%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2026-3833

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-3833

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-11 0.09% 0.18% +0.09%
2 2026-05-07 0.03% 0.09% +0.06%
3 2026-05-01 0.03%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-3833

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 2.5 [email protected]
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.2 5.2 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-3833

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-3833

GHSA-6rgh-57xm-37v8 · Severity: medium — A flaw was found in gnutls. This vulnerability occurs because gnutls performs case-sensitive...

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-3833

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-3833 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gnutls28), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-3833
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-3833
suse high CVE-2026-3833 severity important: SUSE including 10 source package names (gnutls-3.8.13-1.1, libgnutls-dane-devel-3.8.13-1.1, …), 10 product×package rows across 1 product lines (openSUSE Tumbleweed): Fixed 10. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-3833/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-3833 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (gnutls28), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream, xenial): released 5, needs-triage 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-3833

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-3833

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu gnutls cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gnutls:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat hardened_images cpe:2.3:a:redhat:hardened_images:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat openshift_container_platform 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-3833

cvelogic Threat Intelligence