Summary
Bouncy Castle: Zeroisation of sensitive key material on garbage collection relies on finalization.
In Bouncy Castle for Java FIPS (BC-FJA) before bc-fips 1.0.2.7 (1.0.X series), 2.0.2 (2.0.X series) and 2.1.3 (2.1.X series), sensitive key material held by the AES and DESede engines, the SP 800-90A DRBGs, SymmetricSecretKey and the PBKD and scrypt parameter classes was zeroised on garbage collection by overriding Object.finalize. Finalization runs at an unspecified time and in an unspecified order and is serviced by a single finalizer thread, so where objects carrying a finalizer are allocated faster than that thread retires them the pending-finalization queue grows without bound: disposal falls arbitrarily far behind, which can contribute to an OutOfMemoryError under load, and the key material those objects hold stays resident in the heap for as long as they are queued, defeating the purpose of the zeroisation. The behaviour was not a problem on Java 8 or Java 11; it is later JVMs, on which finalization has been deprecated and progressively de-emphasised, where it becomes one. Disposal of these classes now runs from a java.lang.ref.Cleaner registered in the multi-release jdk1.9 overlay, so on Java 9 and later it no longer depends on the finalizer being scheduled. Bouncy Castle for Java (bcprov) and Bouncy Castle for Java LTS are not affected, as neither implements the finalizer-based zeroisation scheme.
Impact
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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org.bouncycastle:bc-fips to 1.0.2.7 or later; org.bouncycastle:bc-fips to 2.0.2 or later; org.bouncycastle:bc-fips to 2.1.3 or later
Kodem Kai can prioritize this vulnerability in your dependency tree and generate a fix recommendation.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-13505? CVE-2026-13505 is a high-severity security vulnerability in org.bouncycastle:bc-fips (maven), affecting versions < 1.0.2.7. It is fixed in 1.0.2.7, 2.0.2, 2.1.3.
- Which versions of org.bouncycastle:bc-fips are affected by CVE-2026-13505? org.bouncycastle:bc-fips (maven) versions < 1.0.2.7 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-13505? Yes. CVE-2026-13505 is fixed in 1.0.2.7, 2.0.2, 2.1.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-13505 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-13505 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2026-13505 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2026-13505?
- Upgrade
org.bouncycastle:bc-fipsto 1.0.2.7 or later - Upgrade
org.bouncycastle:bc-fipsto 2.0.2 or later - Upgrade
org.bouncycastle:bc-fipsto 2.1.3 or later
- Upgrade