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7.5
CVE-2026-119188Fix available

Forge: Denial of service in TLS record processing via a record interleaved with a fragmented handshake message

node-forge2 min readRead in
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Summary

### Summary A connection created with `forge.tls.createConnection()` throws an uncaught `TypeError` from `process()` when it receives a record of another content type while waiting for the rest of a handshake message that was split across records. A peer can trigger this with 18 bytes before the handshake, without authentication, which terminates Node.js processes that use the documented socket wiring. Fixed in node-forge 1.4.1. ### Details In `lib/tls.js`, `_readRecord()` handles a record that arrives while a handshake message split across records is incomplete. If the record has any other content type (change_cipher_spec, alert, application_data or heartbeat), forge correctly reports "Invalid fragmented record." through `c.error()` with a fatal `unexpected_message` alert. That fatal error closes and resets the connection, which sets `c.record` to `null`. `_readRecord()` then continues with `c.record.ready = true` and throws `TypeError: Cannot set properties of null (setting 'ready')` out of `process()`. The code is unchanged since the first release. RFC 5246 section 6.2.1 allows a handshake message to be fragmented across records, and RFC 8446 section 5.1 forbids interleaving handshake messages with other record types. Failing the connection with `unexpected_message` is the intended behavior; the bug is the crash after the error. node-forge reports TLS protocol errors through the `error` callback, so applications do not normally wrap `process()` in `try`/`catch`. When `process()` is called from a Node.js socket `data` handler, as in the documented usage, the exception is uncaught and terminates the process. The fix returns from `_readRecord()` right after the fatal error. The connection is failed, the alert is sent and the `error` callback is called as before, and `process()` no longer throws. ### Patches Fixed in node-forge 1.4.1. The connection still fails with a fatal `unexpected_message` alert and the `error` callback, but `process()` no longer throws. ### Wo…

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