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CVE-2026-53604 (GCVE-0-2026-53604)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-04 19:40 – Updated: 2026-09-04 19:40
VLAI
Title
nebula-mesh: CA private key not zeroized on web mobile-bundle error paths
Summary
nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh VPN. Prior to version 0.3.8, the web handler renderMobileBundle passes the real *pki.CAResolver directly into mobilebundle.Build. Inside Build, resolver.LoadByID decrypts the CA's ed25519 private key into a *pki.CAManager, but Build never calls CAManager.Wipe() on any return path. 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 already does this correctly: it loads the CAManager, defer caMgr.Wipe(), and wraps it in caManagerResolver. Only the web path is affected. This issue has been patched in version 0.3.8.
Severity
7.1 (High)
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CWE
  • CWE-212 - Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer
  • CWE-316 - Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in Memory
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
forgekeep nebula-mesh Affected: < 0.3.8
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "nebula-mesh",
          "vendor": "forgekeep",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "\u003c 0.3.8"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh VPN. Prior to version 0.3.8, the web handler renderMobileBundle passes the real *pki.CAResolver directly into mobilebundle.Build. Inside Build, resolver.LoadByID decrypts the CA\u0027s ed25519 private key into a *pki.CAManager, but Build never calls CAManager.Wipe() on any return path. As a result, when a mobile-bundle request goes through the web UI and Build returns \u2014 especially on error (missing network, invalid prefix, DB error, signing failure) \u2014 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 already does this correctly: it loads the CAManager, defer caMgr.Wipe(), and wraps it in caManagerResolver. Only the web path is affected. This issue has been patched in version 0.3.8."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV4_0": {
            "attackComplexity": "LOW",
            "attackRequirements": "NONE",
            "attackVector": "NETWORK",
            "baseScore": 7.1,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
            "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N",
            "version": "4.0",
            "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "vulnIntegrityImpact": "NONE"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-212",
              "description": "CWE-212: Improper Removal of Sensitive Information Before Storage or Transfer",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-316",
              "description": "CWE-316: Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information in Memory",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-09-04T19:40:51.423Z",
        "orgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
        "shortName": "GitHub_M"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/security/advisories/GHSA-2p2f-px33-4vv5",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/security/advisories/GHSA-2p2f-px33-4vv5"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/commit/1f1ab9aa8472239763d967e3d50a3cd53a1a79b9",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/commit/1f1ab9aa8472239763d967e3d50a3cd53a1a79b9"
        },
        {
          "name": "https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/releases/tag/v0.3.8",
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_MISC"
          ],
          "url": "https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/releases/tag/v0.3.8"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "advisory": "GHSA-2p2f-px33-4vv5",
        "discovery": "UNKNOWN"
      },
      "title": "nebula-mesh: CA private key not zeroized on web mobile-bundle error paths"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "a0819718-46f1-4df5-94e2-005712e83aaa",
    "assignerShortName": "GitHub_M",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-53604",
    "datePublished": "2026-09-04T19:40:51.423Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-06-09T19:39:52.404Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-09-04T19:40:51.423Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "epss": {
      "cve": "CVE-2026-53604",
      "date": "2026-09-05",
      "epss": "0.00116",
      "percentile": "0.01794"
    },
    "nvd": "{\"cve\":{\"id\":\"CVE-2026-53604\",\"sourceIdentifier\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"published\":\"2026-09-04T20:17:23.437\",\"lastModified\":\"2026-09-04T20:17:23.437\",\"vulnStatus\":\"Received\",\"cveTags\":[],\"descriptions\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh VPN. Prior to version 0.3.8, the web handler renderMobileBundle passes the real *pki.CAResolver directly into mobilebundle.Build. Inside Build, resolver.LoadByID decrypts the CA\u0027s ed25519 private key into a *pki.CAManager, but Build never calls CAManager.Wipe() on any return path. As a result, when a mobile-bundle request goes through the web UI and Build returns \u2014 especially on error (missing network, invalid prefix, DB error, signing failure) \u2014 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 already does this correctly: it loads the CAManager, defer caMgr.Wipe(), and wraps it in caManagerResolver. Only the web path is affected. This issue has been patched in version 0.3.8.\"}],\"affected\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"affectedData\":[{\"vendor\":\"forgekeep\",\"product\":\"nebula-mesh\",\"versions\":[{\"version\":\"\u003c 0.3.8\",\"status\":\"affected\"}]}]}],\"metrics\":{\"cvssMetricV40\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Secondary\",\"cvssData\":{\"version\":\"4.0\",\"vectorString\":\"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X\",\"baseScore\":7.1,\"baseSeverity\":\"HIGH\",\"attackVector\":\"NETWORK\",\"attackComplexity\":\"LOW\",\"attackRequirements\":\"NONE\",\"privilegesRequired\":\"LOW\",\"userInteraction\":\"NONE\",\"vulnConfidentialityImpact\":\"HIGH\",\"vulnIntegrityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"vulnAvailabilityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"subConfidentialityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"subIntegrityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"subAvailabilityImpact\":\"NONE\",\"exploitMaturity\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"confidentialityRequirement\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"integrityRequirement\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"availabilityRequirement\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedAttackVector\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedAttackComplexity\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedAttackRequirements\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedPrivilegesRequired\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedUserInteraction\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedVulnConfidentialityImpact\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedVulnIntegrityImpact\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedVulnAvailabilityImpact\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedSubConfidentialityImpact\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedSubIntegrityImpact\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"modifiedSubAvailabilityImpact\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"Safety\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"Automatable\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"Recovery\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"valueDensity\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"vulnerabilityResponseEffort\":\"NOT_DEFINED\",\"providerUrgency\":\"NOT_DEFINED\"}}]},\"weaknesses\":[{\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\",\"type\":\"Primary\",\"description\":[{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-212\"},{\"lang\":\"en\",\"value\":\"CWE-316\"}]}],\"references\":[{\"url\":\"https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/commit/1f1ab9aa8472239763d967e3d50a3cd53a1a79b9\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\"},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/releases/tag/v0.3.8\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\"},{\"url\":\"https://github.com/forgekeep/nebula-mesh/security/advisories/GHSA-2p2f-px33-4vv5\",\"source\":\"security-advisories@github.com\"}]}}",
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "important",
      "current_release_date": "2026-09-05T16:55:47Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-53604",
      "id": "CVE-2026-53604",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-07-30T16:41:03Z",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2026-53604",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/cve-2026-53604.json",
      "version": "3"
    }
  }
}



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