CVE-2023-6237
Excessive time spent checking invalid RSA public keys
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 5.9 Medium
- Published
- Apr 25, 2024
- Updated
- Oct 14, 2026
- Reserved
- Nov 21, 2023
Description
Issue summary: Checking excessively long invalid RSA public keys may take a long time.
Impact summary: Applications that use the function EVP_PKEY_public_check() to check RSA public keys may experience long delays. Where the key that is being checked has been obtained from an untrusted source this may lead to a Denial of Service.
When function EVP_PKEY_public_check() is called on RSA public keys, a computation is done to confirm that the RSA modulus, n, is composite. For valid RSA keys, n is a product of two or more large primes and this computation completes quickly. However, if n is an overly large prime, then this computation would take a long time.
An application that calls EVP_PKEY_public_check() and supplies an RSA key obtained from an untrusted source could be vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack.
The function EVP_PKEY_public_check() is not called from other OpenSSL functions however it is called from the OpenSSL pkey command line application. For that reason that application is also vulnerable if used with the '-pubin' and '-check' options on untrusted data.
The OpenSSL SSL/TLS implementation is not affected by this issue.
The OpenSSL 3.0 and 3.1 FIPS providers are affected by this issue.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 5.9 Medium | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | CISA-ADP |
Weaknesses
- CWE-606 Unchecked Input for Loop Condition
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
OpenSSLOpenSSL |
|
References
- OpenSSL Advisoryvendor-advisory
- 3.0.13 git commitpatch
- 3.1.5 git commitpatch
- 3.2.1 git commitpatch
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/11/1
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240531-0007/
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-331112.html
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-915275.html
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-769027.html
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