Vulnerability · Published May 16, 2024 · Assigned by openssl

CVE-2024-4603Excessive time spent checking DSA keys and parameters

Medium 5.3

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in OpenSSL from OpenSSL. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 1.1% (higher than 67% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.3Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)1.1%top 33.4% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

Issue summary: Checking excessively long DSA keys or parameters may be very slow. Impact summary: Applications that use the functions EVP_PKEY_param_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check() to check a DSA public key or DSA parameters may experience long delays. Where the key or parameters that are being checked have been obtained from an untrusted source this may lead to a Denial of Service. The functions EVP_PKEY_param_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check() perform various checks on DSA parameters. Some of those computations take a long time if the modulus (`p` parameter) is too large. Trying to use a very large modulus is slow and OpenSSL will not allow using public keys with a modulus which is over 10,000 bits in length for signature verification. However the key and parameter check functions do not limit the modulus size when performing the checks. An application that calls EVP_PKEY_param_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check() and supplies a key or parameters obtained from an untrusted source could be vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack. These functions are not called by OpenSSL itself on untrusted DSA keys so only applications that directly call these functions may be vulnerable. Also vulnerable are the OpenSSL pkey and pkeyparam command line applications when using the `-check` option. 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.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
AlmaLinux:9openssl1:3.2.2-6.el9_5ALSA-2024:9333
AlmaLinux:9openssl-devel1:3.2.2-6.el9_5ALSA-2024:9333
AlmaLinux:9openssl-libs1:3.2.2-6.el9_5ALSA-2024:9333
AlmaLinux:9openssl-perl1:3.2.2-6.el9_5ALSA-2024:9333
Alpine:v3.20openssl3.3.0-r2ALPINE-CVE-2024-4603
Alpine:v3.21openssl3.3.0-r2ALPINE-CVE-2024-4603
Alpine:v3.22openssl3.3.0-r2ALPINE-CVE-2024-4603
Alpine:v3.23openssl3.3.0-r2ALPINE-CVE-2024-4603
Alpine:v3.24openssl3.3.0-r2ALPINE-CVE-2024-4603
Debian:12openssl3.0.14-1~deb12u1DEBIAN-CVE-2024-4603
Debian:13openssl3.2.2-1DEBIAN-CVE-2024-4603
Debian:14openssl3.2.2-1DEBIAN-CVE-2024-4603
Rocky Linux:9openssl1:3.2.2-6.el9_5.1RLSA-2024:9333
Rocky Linux:9openssl-fips-provider0:3.0.7-6.el9_5RLSA-2024:9333
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSopenssl3.0.2-0ubuntu1.17USN-6937-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSopenssl3.0.2-0ubuntu1.17UBUNTU-CVE-2024-4603
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSopenssl3.0.13-0ubuntu3.2UBUNTU-CVE-2024-4603
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSopenssl3.0.13-0ubuntu3.2USN-6937-1

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
OpenSSL OpenSSL 3.0.0 – before 3.0.143.1.0 – before 3.1.63.2.0 – before 3.2.23.3.0 – before 3.3.1

Weakness: CWE-606, CWE-834 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

References