{"id":"CVE-2023-6237","title":"Issue summary: Checking excessively long invalid RSA public keys may take\na long time.\n\nImpact summary: Applications that use the function EVP_PKEY_public_check()\nto check RSA public keys may experience long delays","summary":"Issue summary: Checking excessively long invalid RSA public keys may take\na long time.\n\nImpact summary: Applications that use the function EVP_PKEY_public_check()\nto check RSA public keys may experience long delays. Where the key that\nis…","severity":"medium","cvss":5.9,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H","cwe":["CWE-606"],"published":"2024-04-25","updated":"2026-10-14","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-14T23:17:19.220","source":"NVD","sourceUrl":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-6237","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/0b0f7abfb37350794a4b8960fafc292cd5d1b84d","label":"openssl-security@openssl.org"},{"url":"https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/18c02492138d1eb8b6548cb26e7b625fb2414a2a","label":"openssl-security@openssl.org"},{"url":"https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a830f551557d3d66a84bbb18a5b889c640c36294","label":"openssl-security@openssl.org"},{"url":"https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20240115.txt","label":"openssl-security@openssl.org"},{"url":"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/11/1","label":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/0b0f7abfb37350794a4b8960fafc292cd5d1b84d","label":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/18c02492138d1eb8b6548cb26e7b625fb2414a2a","label":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/a830f551557d3d66a84bbb18a5b889c640c36294","label":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240531-0007/","label":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20240115.txt","label":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html","label":"0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"},{"url":"https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-331112.html","label":"0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"},{"url":"https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-769027.html","label":"0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"},{"url":"https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-915275.html","label":"0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e"}],"tags":["nvd","cve.org"],"epss":0.02303,"epssPercentile":0.82983,"ingestedAt":"2026-10-15T00:02:07.137Z","vendor":"OpenSSL","product":"OpenSSL","affected":["OpenSSL >= 3.0.0 < 3.0.13","OpenSSL >= 3.1.0 < 3.1.5","OpenSSL >= 3.2.0 < 3.2.1"],"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"partial","timestamp":"2024-08-20T14:44:52.382969Z"},"slug":"CVE-2023-6237","body":"## Overview\n\nIssue summary: Checking excessively long invalid RSA public keys may take\na long time.\n\nImpact summary: Applications that use the function EVP_PKEY_public_check()\nto check RSA public keys may experience long delays. Where the key that\nis being checked has been obtained from an untrusted source this may lead\nto a Denial of Service.\n\nWhen function EVP_PKEY_public_check() is called on RSA public keys,\na computation is done to confirm that the RSA modulus, n, is composite.\nFor valid RSA keys, n is a product of two or more large primes and this\ncomputation completes quickly. However, if n is an overly large prime,\nthen this computation would take a long time.\n\nAn application that calls EVP_PKEY_public_check() and supplies an RSA key\nobtained from an untrusted source could be vulnerable to a Denial of Service\nattack.\n\nThe function EVP_PKEY_public_check() is not called from other OpenSSL\nfunctions however it is called from the OpenSSL pkey command line\napplication. For that reason that application is also vulnerable if used\nwith the '-pubin' and '-check' options on untrusted data.\n\nThe OpenSSL SSL/TLS implementation is not affected by this issue.\n\nThe OpenSSL 3.0 and 3.1 FIPS providers are affected by this issue.\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":33,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":32.5,"likelihood":0.5,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}