---
id: CVE-2024-9143
title: >-
  Issue summary: Use of the low-level GF(2^m) elliptic curve APIs with untrusted

  explicit values for the field polynomial can lead to out-of-bounds memory
  reads

  or writes.


  Impact summary: Out of bound memory writes can lead to an applicat…
summary: >-
  Issue summary: Use of the low-level GF(2^m) elliptic curve APIs with untrusted

  explicit values for the field polynomial can lead to out-of-bounds memory
  reads

  or writes.


  Impact summary: Out of bound memory writes can lead to an applicat…
severity: medium
cvss: 4.3
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-125
  - CWE-787
published: '2024-10-16'
updated: '2026-10-15'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-15T01:19:26.257'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-9143'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/72ae83ad214d2eef262461365a1975707f862712
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/bc7e04d7c8d509fb78fc0e285aa948fb0da04700
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/c0d3e4d32d2805f49bec30547f225bc4d092e1f4
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/fdf6723362ca51bd883295efe206cb5b1cfa5154
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.openssl.org/openssl/extended-releases/commit/8efc0cbaa8ebba8e116f7b81a876a4123594d86a
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: >-
      https://github.openssl.org/openssl/extended-releases/commit/9d576994cec2b7aa37a91740ea7e680810957e41
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: 'https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20241016.txt'
    label: openssl-security@openssl.org
  - url: 'http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/10/16/1'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/10/23/1'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/10/24/1'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/10/msg00033.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/11/msg00000.html'
    label: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
  - url: 'https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241101-0001/'
    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-277137.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
  - url: 'https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-769027.html'
    label: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
epss: 0.05842
epssPercentile: 0.93061
ingestedAt: '2026-10-15T03:30:12.745Z'
vendor: OpenSSL
product: OpenSSL
affected:
  - OpenSSL >= 3.3.0 < 3.3.3
  - OpenSSL >= 3.2.0 < 3.2.4
  - OpenSSL >= 3.1.0 < 3.1.8
  - OpenSSL >= 3.0.0 < 3.0.16
  - OpenSSL >= 1.1.1 < 1.1.1zb
  - OpenSSL >= 1.0.2 < 1.0.2zl
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2024-10-16T19:45:11.544020Z'
---

## Overview

Issue summary: Use of the low-level GF(2^m) elliptic curve APIs with untrusted
explicit values for the field polynomial can lead to out-of-bounds memory reads
or writes.

Impact summary: Out of bound memory writes can lead to an application crash or
even a possibility of a remote code execution, however, in all the protocols
involving Elliptic Curve Cryptography that we're aware of, either only "named
curves" are supported, or, if explicit curve parameters are supported, they
specify an X9.62 encoding of binary (GF(2^m)) curves that can't represent
problematic input values. Thus the likelihood of existence of a vulnerable
application is low.

In particular, the X9.62 encoding is used for ECC keys in X.509 certificates,
so problematic inputs cannot occur in the context of processing X.509
certificates.  Any problematic use-cases would have to be using an "exotic"
curve encoding.

The affected APIs include: EC_GROUP_new_curve_GF2m(), EC_GROUP_new_from_params(),
and various supporting BN_GF2m_*() functions.

Applications working with "exotic" explicit binary (GF(2^m)) curve parameters,
that make it possible to represent invalid field polynomials with a zero
constant term, via the above or similar APIs, may terminate abruptly as a
result of reading or writing outside of array bounds.  Remote code execution
cannot easily be ruled out.

The FIPS modules in 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.