CVE-2026-54736 PUBLISHED

Phalcon: Non-constant-time HMAC verification in `Encryption\Crypt::decrypt` (timing side-channel)

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 15.06.2026 Published: 10.07.2026 Updated: 10.07.2026

Phalcon is a high-performance, full-stack PHP framework. Prior to 5.14.1, Phalcon\Encryption\Crypt::decrypt compares the attacker-supplied HMAC tag against the freshly computed HMAC using PHP/Zephir identity comparison, which lowers to a byte-wise comparison that returns early on the first differing byte. This observable timing discrepancy can allow an attacker to recover a valid tag byte-by-byte and attach it to a chosen IV and ciphertext so that decrypt() accepts tampered encrypted content as authentic. This issue is fixed in version 5.14.1.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
CVSS Score: 8.2

Product Status

Vendor phalcon
Product cphalcon
Versions
  • Version < 5.14.1 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-208: Observable Timing Discrepancy CWE
  • CWE-347: Improper Verification of Cryptographic Signature CWE