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🛡️ CVE-2026-53604 — nebula-mesh

🟠 CVSS 8.0 — High ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-212 OSV
8.0
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

nebula-mesh: CA private key not zeroized on web mobile-bundle error paths

Impact

The web handler renderMobileBundle (internal/web/handlers.go:1325) passes the real *pki.CAResolver directly into mobilebundle.Build. Inside Build (internal/mobilebundle/builder.go:54), resolver.LoadByID decrypts the CA's ed25519 private key into a *pki.CAManager, but Build never calls CAManager.Wipe() on any return path (success or any of the error paths at lines 56, 62, 68, 80, 86, 92, 98, 102, 109, 118, 150).

As a result, when a mobile-bundle request goes through the web UI and Build returns — especially on error (missing network, invalid prefix, DB error, signing failure) — the plaintext CA private key remains on the Go heap, unwiped, until garbage collection. An attacker able to read process memory (core dump, swap, memory-scraping) can recover the CA signing key, which would allow minting arbitrary host certificates for the mesh.

The API handler (internal/api/mobile_bundle.go:74) already does this correctly: it loads the CAManager, defer caMgr.Wipe(), and wraps it in caManagerResolver. Only the web path is affected.

This is the same key-zeroization class previously addressed in GHSA-8h84-fhqq-q58v.

Patches

Add defer caMgr.Wipe() inside mobilebundle.Build immediately after the LoadByID call so every caller (web and API) is protected on all return paths. Ensure CAManager.Wipe() is idempotent, since the API handler also wipes the same manager.

Workarounds

None at the configuration level; requires a code fix.

Resources

  • internal/web/handlers.go:1325
  • internal/mobilebundle/builder.go:54
  • internal/api/mobile_bundle.go:74 (correct reference implementation)
  • Prior related advisory: GHSA-8h84-fhqq-q58v

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity none, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Attack requirements: None — no deployment-specific condition has to hold.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

CVE-2026-53604 is classified as CWE-212: Improper Removal of Sensitive Information. Data is passed on without stripping sensitive fields that the recipient should not receive.

Affected software

CVE-2026-53604 is recorded against 1 package.

  • github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh

Timeline and source

Published on 14 July 2026 and last revised on 21 July 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from OSV.

References

github.com (Web)
github.com (Web)
github.com (Package)
github.com (Web)

Other advisories for this package

github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-212: Improper Removal of Sensitive Information) in other software:

Details

Severity HIGH
CVSS Score 8.0
CVSS Vector CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CWE CWE-212
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2026-07-14
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-07-21

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh — —

Similar Threats

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