- Severity: HIGH
- CVE: CVE-2026-119188
- Ecosystems: npm
- Packages: node-forge
### 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…
Source: GitHub Security Advisories · 2026-10-30