Summary
dcap-qvl has Missing Verification for QE Identity
Consequences
An attacker can forge the QE Identity data to whitelist a malicious or non-Intel Quoting Enclave. This allows the attacker to forge the QE and sign untrusted quotes that the verifier will accept as valid. Effectively, this bypasses the entire remote attestation security model, as the verifier can no longer trust the entity responsible for signing the quotes.
Who is impacted
All deployments utilizing the dcap-qvl library for SGX or TDX quote verification are affected.
Workarounds
There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability. Users must upgrade to the patched version to ensure that QE Identity collateral is properly verified.
Credit
This bug was reported by Rahul Saxena [email protected].
Impact
This vulnerability involves a critical gap in the cryptographic verification process within the dcap-qvl.
The library fetches QE Identity collateral (including qe_identity, qe_identity_signature, and qe_identity_issuer_chain) from the PCCS. However, it skips to verify the QE Identity signature against its certificate chain and does not enforce policy constraints on the QE Report.
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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The vulnerability has been patched in dcap-qvl version 0.3.9. The fix implements the missing cryptographic verification for the QE Identity signature and enforces the required checks for MRSIGNER, ISVPRODID, and ISVSVN against the QE Report.
Users of the @phala/dcap-qvl-node and @phala/dcap-qvl-web packages should switch to the pure JavaScript implementation, @phala/dcap-qvl.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2026-22696? CVE-2026-22696 is a critical-severity security vulnerability in dcap-qvl (rust), affecting versions < 0.3.9. It is fixed in 0.3.9.
- Which packages are affected by CVE-2026-22696?
dcap-qvl(rust) (versions < 0.3.9)@phala/dcap-qvl(npm) (versions <= 0.3.0)@phala/dcap-qvl-web(npm) (versions <= 0.3.3)@phala/dcap-qvl-node(npm) (versions <= 0.3.3)
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-22696? Yes. CVE-2026-22696 is fixed in 0.3.9. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2026-22696 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2026-22696 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-2026-22696 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-2026-22696?
- Upgrade
dcap-qvlto 0.3.9 or later - Upgrade
@phala/dcap-qvlto 0.3.9 or later - Upgrade
dcap-qvlto 0.3.9 or later
- Upgrade