CVE-2018-3691 in Integrated Performance Primitives Cryptography Library
Summary
by MITRE
Some implementations in Intel Integrated Performance Primitives Cryptography Library before version 2018 U2.1 do not properly ensure constant execution time.
If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/15/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3691 affects Intel Integrated Performance Primitives Cryptography Library versions prior to 2018 U2.1, representing a critical timing side-channel weakness that undermines cryptographic security assurances. This flaw specifically targets implementations within the cryptographic library that fail to maintain constant execution time across different input conditions, creating opportunities for attackers to infer sensitive information through timing analysis attacks. The issue stems from the library's inability to guarantee that cryptographic operations execute in predictable time frames regardless of input values, which violates fundamental security principles for cryptographic implementations.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the absence of constant-time execution mechanisms within certain cryptographic algorithms implemented in the Intel IPP Cryptography library. When cryptographic operations do not execute in constant time, the processing duration varies based on input characteristics, enabling attackers to measure execution times and correlate these timings with secret data patterns. This timing variation creates a side-channel attack vector that can be exploited to recover cryptographic keys or other sensitive information. The vulnerability affects implementations of various cryptographic primitives including but not limited to RSA, elliptic curve operations, and hash functions that rely on the library's optimized cryptographic routines.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-3691 extends beyond simple performance degradation, as it fundamentally compromises the security guarantees that cryptographic systems are designed to provide. Systems utilizing affected Intel IPP Cryptography library versions may be vulnerable to sophisticated timing attacks that could lead to complete key recovery, session hijacking, or other serious security breaches. The vulnerability affects a wide range of applications that depend on Intel's cryptographic optimizations, including web servers, database systems, and network security appliances that utilize the library for secure communications. This weakness particularly impacts environments where sensitive data processing occurs under conditions where timing measurements could be obtained by adversaries, making it a significant concern for enterprise security infrastructure.
Organizations should prioritize immediate remediation by upgrading to Intel IPP Cryptography Library version 2018 U2.1 or later, which includes proper constant-time implementation measures. Security teams should also implement monitoring for timing variations in cryptographic operations and consider additional defensive measures such as randomizing execution timing or employing hardware security modules that provide constant-time cryptographic operations. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-376, which addresses improper handling of timing information in cryptographic implementations, and represents a specific instance of the broader ATT&CK technique T1059.001 related to timing-based side-channel attacks. The remediation process should include comprehensive testing to ensure that upgraded implementations maintain both security and performance characteristics while avoiding regression in existing cryptographic operations that depend on the library.