BouncyCastle TLS up to 1.0.2 JCE Key Recovery cryptographic issue

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.3$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in BouncyCastle TLS up to 1.0.2. The affected element is an unknown function of the component JCE. The manipulation leads to cryptographic issue (Key Recovery). This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2017-13098. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in BouncyCastle TLS up to 1.0.2. This issue affects some unknown functionality of the component JCE. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a cryptographic issue vulnerability (Key Recovery). Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-310. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

BouncyCastle TLS prior to version 1.0.3, when configured to use the JCE (Java Cryptography Extension) for cryptographic functions, provides a weak Bleichenbacher oracle when any TLS cipher suite using RSA key exchange is negotiated. An attacker can recover the private key from a vulnerable application. This vulnerability is referred to as "ROBOT."

The bug was discovered 12/12/2017. The weakness was disclosed 12/13/2017 by Juraj Somorovsky with Tripwire VERT as confirmed advisory (CERT.org). It is possible to read the advisory at kb.cert.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2017-13098 since 08/22/2017. The exploitation is known to be difficult. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1600 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 105415 (Return Of Bleichenbacher's Oracle Threat (ROBOT) Information Disclosure), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family General and running in the context r. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 38695 (TLS ROBOT Vulnerability Detected).

Upgrading to version 1.0.3 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (105415) and SecurityFocus (BID 102195†). The entries VDB-97507, VDB-110568, VDB-110662 and VDB-110663 are pretty similar. Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.3

VulDB Base Score: 5.6
VulDB Temp Score: 5.4
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 5.9
NVD Vector: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 7.5
CNA Vector (CERT/CC): 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Name: Key Recovery
Class: Cryptographic issue / Key Recovery
CWE: CWE-310
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Nessus ID: 105415
Nessus Name: Return Of Bleichenbacher's Oracle Threat (ROBOT) Information Disclosure
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 60386
OpenVAS Name: Debian Security Advisory DSA 4072-1 (bouncycastle - security update)
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: TLS 1.0.3
Patch: github.com

Timelineinfo

08/22/2017 🔍
12/12/2017 +112 days 🔍
12/12/2017 +0 days 🔍
12/12/2017 +0 days 🔍
12/13/2017 +1 days 🔍
12/13/2017 +0 days 🔍
12/26/2017 +13 days 🔍
05/12/2025 +2694 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: K21905460
Researcher: Juraj Somorovsky
Organization: Tripwire VERT
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2017-13098 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2017-13098
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-110567

OVAL: 🔍

CERT: 🔍
SecurityFocus: 102195 - Bouncy Castle CVE-2017-13098 Information Disclosure Vulnerability

See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 12/13/2017 14:06
Updated: 05/12/2025 20:49
Changes: 12/13/2017 14:06 (78), 12/14/2019 10:15 (5), 01/27/2021 09:50 (2), 01/17/2023 14:21 (4), 01/17/2023 14:24 (11), 01/17/2023 14:25 (1), 01/11/2025 17:07 (15), 05/12/2025 20:49 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Interested in the pricing of exploits?

See the underground prices here!