Is CVE-2026-44378 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-44378 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-44378?

Informational severity, with a CVSS score of 6.9, published 27 May 2026.

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-44378?

No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

How is CVE-2026-44378 attacked?

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

Am I affected by CVE-2026-44378?

Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. 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-2026-44378: Botan denial of service via quadratic BER decoding complexity

CVE-2026-44378 · Severity: info · CVSS 6.9 · Published 2026-05-27

Botan is a widely used C++ library that provides cryptographic functions for applications, such as handling digital certificates and secure communications. A flaw in how the library processes certain data formats allows an attacker to send specially crafted files that consume excessive processor power. This can lead to a denial-of-service (DoS) condition, making the affected application or service unresponsive to legitimate users.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-44378 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-44378 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-44378?: Informational severity, with a CVSS score of 6.9, published 27 May 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: randombit Botan < 3.12.0.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-44378?: No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.
How is CVE-2026-44378 attacked?: It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-44378?: Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. 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.

Technical details

A vulnerability exists in the ASN.1 BER/DER parser of the Botan library due to inefficient algorithmic complexity (CWE-407). Specifically, certain patterns of indefinite length encodings in Basic Encoding Rules (BER) data trigger quadratic computational behavior during parsing. The library incorrectly accepted these indefinite length encodings even in structures where Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER) are required. An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this by providing malicious ASN.1 encoded data, such as a crafted X.509 certificate or OCSP response, to induce a CPU-based denial of service. The issue is resolved in Botan version 3.12.0.

Affected products

randombit Botan < 3.12.0

Timeline

2026-05-07: advisory: GitHub Security Advisory published
2026-05-27: disclosed: CVE published to NVD

References

https://github.com/randombit/botan/security/advisories/GHSA-7q2v-3g27-6g3j

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