Observable discrepancy in [UNKNOWN] nettle
Priority LOW 29CWE-203Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Physical
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · Low · None
- Fix status
- Will not fix Red Hat: no fix planned
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-203.
Summary
A Bleichenbacher type side-channel based padding oracle attack was found in the way nettle handles endian conversion of RSA decrypted PKCS#1 v1.5 data. An attacker who is able to run a process on the same physical core as the victim process, could use this flaw extract plaintext or in some cases downgrade any TLS connections to a vulnerable server.
Why it matters now
EPSS 0.01495 74th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Will not fix Red Hat: no fix planned
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [UNKNOWN] | nettle | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- nettle Vendor[UNKNOWN] Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:nettle_project:nettle:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | up to 3.4 | Vulnerable | Nettle Project |
- cpe:2.3:a:nettle_project:nettle:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 3.4 Vulnerable ·Nettle Project
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Virtualization 4 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-16869
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-575w-jrpq-q9xv
References
More Nettle Project Nettle vulnerabilities
- TI-2015-07249 x86_64/ecc-384-modp.asm in Nettle before 3.2 does not properly handle carry propagation… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2015-07248 The ecc_256_modp function in ecc-256.c in Nettle before 3.2 does not properly handle… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2015-07250 The ecc_256_modq function in ecc-256.c in Nettle before 3.2 does not properly handle… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2023-18476 The OCB feature in libnettle in Nettle 3.9 before 3.9.1 allows memory corruption. CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2021-02529 Improper input validation in nettle CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2016-05561 The RSA and DSA decryption code in Nettle makes it easier for attackers to discover… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2018-16869 · CVE Program
- CVE-2018-16869 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-575w-jrpq-q9xv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2018-16869 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences