RNP 0.18.0 Vulnerable PKESK session keys
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
In RNP version 0.18.0 a refactoring regression causes the symmetric session key used for Public-Key Encrypted Session Key (PKESK) packets to be left uninitialized except for zeroing, resulting in it always being an all-zero byte array. Any data encrypted using public-key encryption in this release can be decrypted trivially by supplying an all-zero session key, fully compromising confidentiality. The vulnerability affects only public key encryption (PKESK packets). Passphrase-based encryption (SKESK packets) is not affected. Root cause: Vulnerable session key buffer used in PKESK packet generation. The defect was introduced in commit `7bd9a8dc356aae756b40755be76d36205b6b161a` where initialization logic inside `encrypted_build_skesk()` only randomized the key for the SKESK path and omitted it for the PKESK path.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-13470
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-r3r8-w3g2-hq7h
- 2026-10-23 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
References
Advisory 2
More Ribose vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-13854 Ribose RNP before 0.16.3 sometimes lets secret keys remain unlocked after use. CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2021-12972 Ribose RNP before 0.15.1 does not implement a required step in a cryptographic algorithm… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-13853 Ribose RNP before 0.16.3 may hang when the input is malformed. CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
Sources
- CVE-2025-13470 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-13470 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-r3r8-w3g2-hq7h · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-13470 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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