CVE-2026-53712
Received Received - Intake

Authentication Downgrade in SCRAM Client Library

Publication date: 2026-07-17

Last updated on: 2026-07-17

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description
SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) is part of the family of Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL, RFC 4422) authentication mechanisms. Prior to 3.3, a flaw in com.ongres.scram:scram-client and com.ongres.scram:scram-common allows an attacker capable of a TLS man-in-the-middle attack to silently downgrade a connection from SCRAM-SHA-256-PLUS with channel binding to standard SCRAM-SHA-256 without channel binding when TlsServerEndpoint processes an X.509 certificate using a modern signature algorithm such as Ed25519; getChannelBindingData() can return an empty byte array after NoSuchAlgorithmException, and the ScramClient builder treats that as absent channel-binding data. This issue is fixed in version 3.3.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-07-17
Last Modified
2026-07-17
Generated
2026-07-18
AI Q&A
2026-07-17
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-53712
EUVD
EUVD-2026-45246

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 4 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
com.ongres.scram scram-client to 3.3 (inc)
com.ongres.scram scram-common to 3.3 (inc)
ongres scram to 3.3 (exc)
ongres scram 3.3

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-757 A protocol or its implementation supports interaction between multiple actors and allows those actors to negotiate which algorithm should be used as a protection mechanism such as encryption or authentication, but it does not select the strongest algorithm that is available to both parties.
CWE-636 When the product encounters an error condition or failure, its design requires it to fall back to a state that is less secure than other options that are available, such as selecting the weakest encryption algorithm or using the most permissive access control restrictions.

Attack-Flow Graph

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability is a downgrade attack in the SCRAM authentication library versions 3.2 and earlier. An attacker in a man-in-the-middle position can force a connection to drop from a secure SCRAM-SHA-256-PLUS with channel binding to a weaker SCRAM-SHA-256 without channel binding. This happens when the server uses unsupported X.509 certificate algorithms like Ed25519, causing the client to incorrectly interpret missing channel binding data as unsupported, leading to a fallback to less secure authentication.

Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, check if your system uses SCRAM versions 3.2 or earlier. Inspect Maven dependencies for com.ongres.scram:scram-client or com.ongres.scram:scram-common. Monitor network traffic for downgrade attempts from SCRAM-SHA-256-PLUS to SCRAM-SHA-256 without channel binding.

Impact Analysis

If you use SCRAM authentication in a system requiring strict channel binding, an attacker could intercept and downgrade your connection to bypass security controls. This may allow unauthorized access or credential theft, especially in systems where channel binding is enforced. The impact is limited to environments with strict channel binding policies like pgJDBC's channelBinding=require setting.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could undermine compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR and HIPAA by weakening authentication security. If an attacker downgrades authentication, they may gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, violating confidentiality requirements. Systems enforcing strict channel binding are at higher risk of non-compliance if not patched.

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade to SCRAM version 3.3 or later immediately. Replace deprecated getChannelBindingData() with getChannelBindingHash(). Configure strict channel binding policies like channelBinding=require if applicable. Review and update TLS server certificate algorithms to ensure compatibility.

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