CVE-2023-4421

MEDIUM

NSS < 3.61 - Timing Side-Channel Attack via PKCS#1 v1.5 Padding Check

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

The NSS code used for checking PKCS#1 v1.5 was leaking information useful in mounting Bleichenbacher-like attacks. Both the overall correctness of the padding as well as the length of the encrypted message was leaking through timing side-channel. By sending large number of attacker-selected ciphertexts, the attacker would be able to decrypt a previously intercepted PKCS#1 v1.5 ciphertext (for example, to decrypt a TLS session that used RSA key exchange), or forge a signature using the victim's key. The issue was fixed by implementing the implicit rejection algorithm, in which the NSS returns a deterministic random message in case invalid padding is detected, as proposed in the Marvin Attack paper. This vulnerability affects NSS < 3.61.

Scores

CVSS v3 6.5
EPSS 0.0063
EPSS Percentile 45.1%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Details

CWE
CWE-203
Status published
Products (1)
mozilla/nss < 3.6.1
Published Dec 12, 2023
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026