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TI-2023-05728 Aliases CVE-2023-6237GHSA-hvc4-mjv4-5mw6

Excessive time spent checking invalid RSA public keys

Priority LOW 31CWE-606Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

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.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.02303 83rd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed OpenSSL (OpenSSL): 3.0.13, 3.1.5, 3.2.1Red Hat: 2 advisories

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
OpenSSLOpenSSL3.0.0 to before 3.0.13; 3.1.0 to before 3.1.5; 3.2.0 to before 3.2.13.0.13, 3.1.5, 3.2.1Patch availableCNA
  • OpenSSL VendorOpenSSL Affected 3.0.0 to before 3.0.13; 3.1.0 to before 3.1.5; 3.2.0 to before 3.2.1 Fixed in 3.0.13, 3.1.5, 3.2.1 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——OpenSSL
  • cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·OpenSSL

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA OpenSSL (OpenSSL) Fixed in 3.0.13, 3.1.5, 3.2.1

Red Hat 2 advisories

  • RHSA-2024:9088 Released 2024-11-12 · Red Hat rating Moderate
    edk2 security update
    • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) edk2-aarch64-20240524-6.el9_5, edk2-ovmf-20240524-6.el9_5, edk2-tools-20240524-6.el9_5 +1
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) edk2-20240524-6.el9_5, edk2-aarch64-20240524-6.el9_5, edk2-ovmf-20240524-6.el9_5
  • RHSA-2024:2447 Released 2024-04-30 · Red Hat rating Low
    openssl and openssl-fips-provider security update
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) openssl-devel-1:3.0.7-27.el9, openssl-perl-1:3.0.7-27.el9
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) openssl-1:3.0.7-27.el9, openssl-libs-1:3.0.7-27.el9

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9)Fixed RHSA-2024:9088
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9)Fixed RHSA-2024:2447, RHSA-2024:9088
Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9)Fixed RHSA-2024:2447
Not affected: 7 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9)
  • Red Hat JBoss Core Services
  • Red Hat JBoss Web Server 5

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-6237
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-hvc4-mjv4-5mw6

References

  • TI-2022-01915 The c_rehash script allows command injection CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2021-02645 SM2 Decryption Buffer Overflow CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2009-03392 The TLS protocol, and the SSL protocol 3.0 and possibly earlier, as used in Microsoft… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2022-01176 The c_rehash script allows command injection CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2014-00154 The (1) TLS and (2) DTLS implementations in OpenSSL 1.0.1 before 1.0.1g do not properly… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2025-14107 Stack buffer overflow in CMS (Auth)EnvelopedData parsing CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
See all 323 →

Sources