CVE-2023-6237
Description
Issue summary: Checking excessively long invalid RSA public keys may take a long time.
Impact summary: Applications that use the function EVP_PKEY_public_check() to check RSA public keys may experience long delays. Where the key that is being checked has been obtained from an untrusted source this may lead to a Denial of Service.
When function EVP_PKEY_public_check() is called on RSA public keys, a computation is done to confirm that the RSA modulus, n, is composite. For valid RSA keys, n is a product of two or more large primes and this computation completes quickly. However, if n is an overly large prime, then this computation would take a long time.
An application that calls EVP_PKEY_public_check() and supplies an RSA key obtained from an untrusted source could be vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack.
The function EVP_PKEY_public_check() is not called from other OpenSSL functions however it is called from the OpenSSL pkey command line application. For that reason that application is also vulnerable if used with the '-pubin' and '-check' options on untrusted data.
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.
Patches
30b0f7abfb37318c02492138da830f551557dVulnerability mechanics
Generated by null/stub on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
10- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/11/1nvd
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.htmlnvd
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-331112.htmlnvd
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-769027.htmlnvd
- cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-915275.htmlnvd
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/0b0f7abfb37350794a4b8960fafc292cd5d1b84dnvd
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/18c02492138d1eb8b6548cb26e7b625fb2414a2anvd
- github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a830f551557d3d66a84bbb18a5b889c640c36294nvd
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240531-0007/nvd
- www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20240115.txtnvd
News mentions
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