Is CVE-2026-3505 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-3505 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-3505?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 4, published 15 April 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Legion of the Bouncy Castle Java OpenPGP API 1.74 to 1.80.1, 1.81, 1.82 to 1.83; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 (Maven) <= 130, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,last_affected=130; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven) < 1.84, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=1.84; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15 (Maven) <= 1.46, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,last_affected=1.46; and 4 more.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-3505?

Yes. org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-3505 attacked?

It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-3505?

Check whether you run Legion of the Bouncy Castle Java OpenPGP API, org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 (Maven), org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven) or one of the others listed at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-3505: Bouncy Castle BC-JAVA resource exhaustion in PGP AEAD processing

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2026-3505?

Yes. org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

Q: How is CVE-2026-3505 attacked?

It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

Q: Am I affected by CVE-2026-3505?

Check whether you run Legion of the Bouncy Castle Java OpenPGP API, org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 (Maven), org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven) or one of the others listed at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-3505 · Severity: high · CVSS 4 · Published 2026-04-15

Bouncy Castle Java (BC-JAVA) is a widely used library for encryption and secure communications. A vulnerability in its PGP module allows an attacker to send a specially crafted message that causes the application to consume excessive memory. This can lead to a complete service outage (Denial of Service) by crashing the Java Virtual Machine before the user is even authenticated.

Vendors: Legion of the Bouncy Castle, Maven.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-3505 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-3505 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-3505?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 4, published 15 April 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Legion of the Bouncy Castle Java OpenPGP API 1.74 to 1.80.1, 1.81, 1.82 to 1.83; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 (Maven) <= 130, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,last_affected=130; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven) < 1.84, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=1.84; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15 (Maven) <= 1.46, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,last_affected=1.46; and 4 more.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-3505?: Yes. org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later; org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-3505 attacked?: It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-3505?: Check whether you run Legion of the Bouncy Castle Java OpenPGP API, org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk12 (Maven), org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven) or one of the others listed at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later

# set org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk14 to 1.84 in your pom.xml or build.gradle

org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later

# set org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk15to18 to 1.84 in your pom.xml or build.gradle

org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on (Maven): upgrade to 1.84 or later

# set org.bouncycastle:bcpg-jdk18on to 1.84 in your pom.xml or build.gradle

Technical details

An uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability exists in the Bouncy Castle Java (BC-JAVA) OpenPGP (bcpg) module. The root cause is a lack of validation for the 'chunkSize' field within AEAD-encrypted data packets (AEADEncDataPacket.java). A remote, unauthenticated attacker can provide a crafted AEAD chunk header with an unbounded or extremely large chunk size, leading to memory exhaustion and a crash of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). This occurs during the initial packet parsing phase, making it a pre-authentication attack. The issue is fixed in versions 1.80.2, 1.81.1, and 1.84 by enforcing RFC 9580 limits on the chunkSize (0-16).

Affected products

Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. BC-JAVA bcpg 1.74 to 1.80.1, 1.81, 1.82 to 1.83

Identifiers

CVE-2026-3505
GHSA-cj8j-37rh-8475

Timeline

2026-03-04: patched: Fix committed to repository
2026-04-15: advisory: Initial NVD publication
2026-05-18: other: Advisory updated with specific version ranges and technical details

References

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