Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-3547

Memory Safety in Wolfssl ≤ 5.9.0

Memory Safety
Published
19 March 2026
Modified
26 March 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0026 17th percentile
Risk Priority 56 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-3547 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Wolfssl Wolfssl. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 17th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2026-3547 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability (CWE-125) in the ALPN parsing code of the wolfSSL cryptographic library, affecting versions 5.8.4 and earlier. The flaw stems from incomplete validation during ALPN handling when the library is built with ALPN enabled (HAVE_ALPN or --enable-alpn). ALPN is disabled by default but automatically enabled for third-party compatibility features including enable-apachehttpd, enable-bind, enable-curl, enable-haproxy, enable-hitch, enable-lighty, enable-jni, enable-nginx, and enable-quic. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by transmitting a specially crafted ALPN protocol list to a vulnerable wolfSSL instance during a TLS handshake. Successful exploitation triggers the out-of-bounds read, which can cause the affected process to crash, resulting in a denial-of-service condition with high availability impact.

The wolfSSL project has released a fix for this issue via pull request https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfssl/pull/9859, which security practitioners should review and apply when rebuilding wolfSSL with ALPN support enabled.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Out-of-bounds read in ALPN parsing due to incomplete validation. wolfSSL 5.8.4 and earlier contained an out-of-bounds read in ALPN handling when built with ALPN enabled (HAVE_ALPN / --enable-alpn). A crafted ALPN protocol list could trigger an out-of-bounds read, leading to…

more

a potential process crash (denial of service). Note that ALPN is disabled by default, but is enabled for these 3rd party compatibility features: enable-apachehttpd, enable-bind, enable-curl, enable-haproxy, enable-hitch, enable-lighty, enable-jni, enable-nginx, enable-quic.

CWE(s)
CWE-125

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-5991Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-12340Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-6094Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2023-6936Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2024-0901Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-6681Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-3849Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-5503Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-6325Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl
CVE-2026-55958Same product: Wolfssl Wolfssl

Affected Assets

wolfssl
wolfssl
≤ 5.9.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References