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CVE Record

CVE-2026-42013: Gnutls: gnutls: certificate validation bypass due to oversized subject alternative name

A flaw was found in gnutls. When validating certificates, an oversized Subject Alternative Name (SAN) could cause the validation process to incorrectly fall back to checking the Common Name (CN) field. This could allow a remote attacker to bypass proper certificate validation, potentially leading to spoofing or man-in-the-middle attacks.

HighCVSS 8.2Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This is a certificate validation flaw in GnuTLS. A malicious certificate with an oversized Subject Alternative Name may cause software to check the older Common Name field instead, weakening identity checks. The main business risk is trusted connections accepting the wrong certificate, enabling spoofing or man-in-the-middle interception.

Executive priority

Treat as high priority for Linux platforms that rely on GnuTLS. It can undermine certificate trust without credentials or user interaction, which affects confidentiality and transaction integrity. Prioritize patching internet-facing, egress-heavy, and sensitive-data systems first.

Technical view

CVE-2026-42013 is a CWE-295 improper certificate validation issue. During certificate name validation, an oversized SAN can trigger fallback to CN matching. The CVSS 3.1 score is 8.2, network exploitable, low complexity, no privileges, and no user interaction. The provided bundle lists affected Red Hat gnutls and some libtasn1 packages.

Likely exposure

Systems using affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux gnutls packages are the clearest exposure. The bundle lists RHEL 7 ELS, RHEL 8 streams and long-life add-ons, RHEL 9, and RHEL 10 variants. Applications relying on GnuTLS for TLS certificate validation should be prioritized.

Exploitation context

The bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The described attack requires presenting a crafted certificate during network certificate validation. Practical risk is highest where affected clients or services validate attacker-influenced TLS certificates.

Researcher notes

Evidence supports a validation bypass caused by oversized SAN handling and CN fallback. The source bundle is Red Hat-focused, so affected scope outside listed Red Hat products is not established here. No exploit details, proof-of-concept status, or universal fixed version is provided in the bundle.

Mitigation direction

  • Review Red Hat advisories for fixed gnutls and libtasn1 package versions.
  • Patch affected RHEL systems through normal Red Hat update channels.
  • Prioritize systems making outbound TLS connections to untrusted or internet endpoints.
  • Check vendor guidance for non-Red Hat distributions using GnuTLS.
  • Monitor for further GnuTLS advisory updates and exploitation reports.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory installed gnutls and libtasn1 packages on RHEL systems.
  • Compare package versions against affected versions in the source bundle.
  • Identify applications linked to GnuTLS for TLS certificate validation.
  • Confirm relevant Red Hat security advisories are applied.
  • Document any exceptions where patching must be deferred.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
12

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-295: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

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description · low confidence lookup

Container behavior lookup

The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-42013 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.2 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
1ADP providers
19Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: yesTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.2CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N3.94.2redhat

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

8.2High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2026-42013Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. Source timelineredhat

    Made public.

  3. Source timelineredhat

    Reported to Red Hat.

  4. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 10gnutls, 0:3.8.10-4.el10_2affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Supportgnutls, 0:3.8.9-9.el10_0.19affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Supportgnutls, 0:3.3.29-9.el7_9.2affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8gnutls, 0:3.6.16-8.el8_10.6affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8gnutls, 0:3.6.16-8.el8_10.6affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Supportgnutls, 0:3.6.14-10.el8_4.1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Supportlibtasn1, 0:4.13-3.el8_4.1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-Ongnutls, 0:3.6.14-10.el8_4.1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-Onlibtasn1, 0:4.13-3.el8_4.1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Supportgnutls, 0:3.6.16-5.el8_6.5affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Supportlibtasn1, 0:4.13-3.el8_6.2affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-Ongnutls, 0:3.6.16-5.el8_6.5affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support Long-Life Add-Onlibtasn1, 0:4.13-3.el8_6.2affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Servicegnutls, 0:3.6.16-7.el8_8.4affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Servicelibtasn1, 0:4.13-4.el8_8.1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutionsgnutls, 0:3.6.16-7.el8_8.4affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Update Services for SAP Solutionslibtasn1, 0:4.13-4.el8_8.1affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9gnutls, 0:3.8.10-4.el9_8affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9gnutls, 0:3.8.10-4.el9_8affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Update Services for SAP Solutionsgnutls, 0:3.7.6-21.el9_2.7affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Update Services for SAP Solutionsgnutls, 0:3.8.3-4.el9_4.6affected
Red HatRed Hat Enterprise Linux 9.6 Extended Update Supportgnutls, 0:3.8.3-6.el9_6.4affected
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.19rhcos, 4.19.9.6.202607151909-0affected
Red HatRed Hat Discovery 2discovery/discovery-server-rhel9, 1782159791affected
Red HatRed Hat Discovery 2discovery/discovery-ui-rhel9, 1782166952affected
Red HatRed Hat Hardened Imagesgnutls-main, 3.8.13-1.hum1affected
Red HatRed Hat Update Infrastructure 5rhui5/cds-rhel9, 1781525684affected
Red HatRed Hat Update Infrastructure 5rhui5/haproxy-rhel9, 1781525671affected
Red HatRed Hat Update Infrastructure 5rhui5/installer-rhel9, 1781525693affected
Red HatRed Hat Update Infrastructure 5rhui5/rhua-rhel9, 1781525739affected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-295

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-295 · source CWE mapping

Improper Certificate Validation

Improper Certificate Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

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