TLS 1.3 post-handshake authentication (PHA) issue where a server could accept a client's Finished message without the client having sent a Certificate and CertificateVerify. The post-handshake-auth exemption that allows an empty/absent peer certificate was only intended for the initial handshake, but it was also being applied while a post-handshake CertificateRequest was still outstanding. The check is now scoped to the initial handshake only: on the server, once a post-handshake CertificateRequest has been sent (certReqCtx is set), a peer certificate and a valid CertificateVerify are required again before the Finished is accepted, with empty-certificate handling following the configured verify mode (FAIL_IF_NO_PEER_CERT) just as during first-handshake client authentication. Only affects TLS 1.3 servers built with post-handshake authentication support (WOLFSSL_POST_HANDSHAKE_AUTH / --enable-postauth, included in --enable-all) that enable WOLFSSL_VERIFY_POST_HANDSHAKE and request a client certificate after the handshake via wolfSSL_request_certificate(). Clients, and servers that do not use post-handshake authentication, are unaffected.
Metrics
Affected Vendors & Products
References
History
Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Metrics |
ssvc
|
Fri, 26 Jun 2026 01:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| First Time appeared |
Wolfssl
Wolfssl wolfssl |
|
| Vendors & Products |
Wolfssl
Wolfssl wolfssl |
Thu, 25 Jun 2026 21:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | TLS 1.3 post-handshake authentication (PHA) issue where a server could accept a client's Finished message without the client having sent a Certificate and CertificateVerify. The post-handshake-auth exemption that allows an empty/absent peer certificate was only intended for the initial handshake, but it was also being applied while a post-handshake CertificateRequest was still outstanding. The check is now scoped to the initial handshake only: on the server, once a post-handshake CertificateRequest has been sent (certReqCtx is set), a peer certificate and a valid CertificateVerify are required again before the Finished is accepted, with empty-certificate handling following the configured verify mode (FAIL_IF_NO_PEER_CERT) just as during first-handshake client authentication. Only affects TLS 1.3 servers built with post-handshake authentication support (WOLFSSL_POST_HANDSHAKE_AUTH / --enable-postauth, included in --enable-all) that enable WOLFSSL_VERIFY_POST_HANDSHAKE and request a client certificate after the handshake via wolfSSL_request_certificate(). Clients, and servers that do not use post-handshake authentication, are unaffected. | |
| Title | TLS 1.3 post-handshake authentication: server accepts Finished without client Certificate/CertificateVerify | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-287 | |
| References |
| |
| Metrics |
cvssV4_0
|
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: wolfSSL
Published: 2026-06-25T21:12:38.074Z
Updated: 2026-06-26T10:31:12.017Z
Reserved: 2026-06-17T22:10:55.453Z
Link: CVE-2026-55962
Updated: 2026-06-26T10:30:49.929Z
No data.
No data.
ReportizFlow