Vigie VulnEuropean-hosted Vulnerability DB

CVE-2022-0778

Infinite loop in BN_mod_sqrt() reachable when parsing certificates

At a glance

Severity
HIGH 7.5
EPSS
EPSS 73.19 % · percentile 99 (2026-10-27)
State
PUBLISHED
Published
Updated
Assigner
openssl
NVD status
Modified

Description

The BN_mod_sqrt() function, which computes a modular square root, contains a bug that can cause it to loop forever for non-prime moduli. Internally this function is used when parsing certificates that contain elliptic curve public keys in compressed form or explicit elliptic curve parameters with a base point encoded in compressed form. It is possible to trigger the infinite loop by crafting a certificate that has invalid explicit curve parameters. Since certificate parsing happens prior to verification of the certificate signature, any process that parses an externally supplied certificate may thus be subject to a denial of service attack. The infinite loop can also be reached when parsing crafted private keys as they can contain explicit elliptic curve parameters. Thus vulnerable situations include: - TLS clients consuming server certificates - TLS servers consuming client certificates - Hosting providers taking certificates or private keys from customers - Certificate authorities parsing certification requests from subscribers - Anything else which parses ASN.1 elliptic curve parameters Also any other applications that use the BN_mod_sqrt() where the attacker can control the parameter values are vulnerable to this DoS issue. In the OpenSSL 1.0.2 version the public key is not parsed during initial parsing of the certificate which makes it slightly harder to trigger the infinite loop. However any operation which requires the public key from the certificate will trigger the infinite loop. In particular the attacker can use a self-signed certificate to trigger the loop during verification of the certificate signature. This issue affects OpenSSL versions 1.0.2, 1.1.1 and 3.0. It was addressed in the releases of 1.1.1n and 3.0.2 on the 15th March 2022. Fixed in OpenSSL 3.0.2 (Affected 3.0.0,3.0.1). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1n (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1m). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2zd (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2zc).

Scores

VersionScoreVectorScored by
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HCISA-ADP
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HNVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HNVD · 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (Secondary)
CVSS 2.0MEDIUM 5.0AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:PNVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)

Weaknesses (CWE)

European references

CERT-FR advisories

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

Affected products

ProductVersions
OpenSSL · OpenSSLaffected Fixed in OpenSSL 3.0.2 (Affected 3.0.0,3.0.1) ; affected Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1n (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1m) ; affected Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2zd (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2zc)

References

Sources

SourceLicence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVDENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
CERT-FR (ANSSI)Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feedsPublic domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD