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Fencer Intel
high 8.2

CVE-2026-54736 json

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

published 4mo ago modified 17d ago also GHSA-8jqh-95g6-7jpj , EUVD-2026-43097

cvss
8.2
version 4.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 7%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • packagist phalcon/cphalcon 5.14.1

Is CVE-2026-54736 in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
3mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.18% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 7% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 8.2 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
CNA 4.0 8.2 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/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
packagist phalcon/cphalcon
<5.14.1
5.14.1

Affected products

  • phalcon cphalcon

Classification

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

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.