CVE-2018-16869

Name: CVE-2018-16869
Creator: NVD / NIST
Published: 2018-12-03T14:29:00.38+00:00
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

MEDIUMCVSS 5.7/10EPSS 1.49%

Last modified Jun 17, 2026

CVE-2018-16869 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 5.7/10 on the CVSS scale. A Bleichenbacher type side-channel based padding oracle attack was found in the way nettle handles endian conversion of RSA decrypted PKCS#1 v1.5 data. An attacker who is able to run a process on the same physical core as the victim process, could use this flaw extract plaintext or in some cases downgrade any TLS connections to a vulnerable server.. EPSS estimates a 1.49% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Description

A Bleichenbacher type side-channel based padding oracle attack was found in the way nettle handles endian conversion of RSA decrypted PKCS#1 v1.5 data. An attacker who is able to run a process on the same physical core as the victim process, could use this flaw extract plaintext or in some cases downgrade any TLS connections to a vulnerable server.

Metrics

CVSS 3.1

5.7/10

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N

EPSS Probability

1.49%

70.9th percentile

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days. Learn more

Weakness Enumeration

Affected Software

Vendor	Product	Versions
Nettle Project	Nettle	<= 3.4

References

http://cat.eyalro.net/Technical Description, Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106092Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16869Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
http://cat.eyalro.net/Technical Description, Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106092Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16869Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published: Dec 3, 2018
Last Modified: Jun 17, 2026
Status: Modified

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2018-16869?

How severe is CVE-2018-16869?

CVE-2018-16869 has a CVSS score of 5.7/10 (MEDIUM severity). The EPSS model estimates a 1.49% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2018-16869?

Check the vendor references and advisories linked above for patched versions and mitigation guidance. You can also run a Strix scan to test if your systems are affected.

Are you affected by CVE-2018-16869?

Run a free Strix scan to check your systems for this vulnerability.

Scan your code now

Source: NVD / NIST