NTRU leaks private key information by reducing secret values with a non-constant-time integer division
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-208.
Summary
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, NTRU reduced secret values with the % operator in three helpers whose reference implementations are deliberately division-free, so each reduction was carried out by an integer division whose latency depends on the secret operand. Polynomial.modQ divided by a variable divisor, which a compiler cannot strength-reduce to a multiply the way it can a constant one, so it emitted a division on every call including on the decapsulation path where the dividend derives from the private key; Polynomial.mod3 and NTRUSampling.mod3 divided the secret key polynomials f and g during key generation, the message polynomials r and m during encapsulation, and coefficients recovered during decapsulation. An attacker able to measure that timing can recover information about the NTRU private key. modQ now masks, which is exact because q is always a power of two, and mod3 uses the reference implementation's division-free fold and select; the results are unchanged.
Why it matters now
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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. | BC-JAVA | 1.73 to before 1.86 | 1.86 | Patch available | CNA |
- BC-JAVA VendorLegion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. Affected 1.73 to before 1.86 Fixed in 1.86 Patch available CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:bouncycastle:bc-java:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. |
- cpe:2.3:a:bouncycastle:bc-java:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.
Remediation
- Fix · CNA BC-JAVA (Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.) Fixed in 1.86
Fixed in the same release
Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.
- Release ·
Legion of the Bouncy Castle BC-JAVA 1.86
3 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 1 MEDIUM, 2 LOW
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-65795 MLS membership checks compare a uint32 leaf_index as signed, admitting an out-of-range senderPriority MEDIUM 44
- TI-2026-65796 Password-based KDF cost parameters honoured unbounded from untrusted input across the remaining PBE entry pointsPriority LOW 24
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-18036
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-frjj-v5w4-68pc
References
More Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc. vulnerabilities
- TI-2018-15967 Legion of the Bouncy Castle Legion of the Bouncy Castle Java Cryptography APIs 1.58 up to… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2017-09736 BouncyCastle JCE TLS Bleichenbacher/ROBOT CVSS 3.0HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-42545 MTI/A0 DH agreement exponentiates unvalidated peer value CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-42533 JSSE hostname verifier CN-fallback enabled by default despite documented opt-in CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-41816 Stapled OCSP response accepted without binding to the checked certificate CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-07701 Name Constraints bypass via trailing dot in rfc822Name and URI CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
Sources
- CVE-2026-18036 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-18036 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-frjj-v5w4-68pc · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-18036 · 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