Description
In RNP version 0.18.0 a refactoring regression causes the symmetric
session key used for Public-Key Encrypted Session Key (PKESK) packets to
be left uninitialized except for zeroing, resulting in it always being
an all-zero byte array.
Any data encrypted using public-key encryption
in this release can be decrypted trivially by supplying an all-zero
session key, fully compromising confidentiality.
The vulnerability affects only public key encryption (PKESK packets). Passphrase-based encryption (SKESK packets) is not affected.
Root cause: Vulnerable session key buffer used in PKESK packet generation.
The defect was introduced in commit `7bd9a8dc356aae756b40755be76d36205b6b161a` where initialization
logic inside `encrypted_build_skesk()` only randomized the key for the
SKESK path and omitted it for the PKESK path.
Understanding This Vulnerability
This Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) entry provides detailed information about a security vulnerability that has been publicly disclosed. CVEs are standardized identifiers assigned by MITRE Corporation to track and catalog security vulnerabilities across software and hardware products.
The severity rating (None) indicates the potential impact of this vulnerability based on the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) framework. Higher severity ratings typically indicate vulnerabilities that could lead to more significant security breaches if exploited. Security teams should prioritize remediation efforts based on severity, exploit availability, and the EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score, which predicts the likelihood of exploitation in the wild.
If this vulnerability affects products or systems in your infrastructure, we recommend reviewing the affected products section, checking for available patches or updates from vendors, and implementing recommended workarounds or solutions until a permanent fix is available. Organizations should also monitor security advisories and threat intelligence feeds for updates about active exploitation of this vulnerability.