Use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm in mbed TLS - CVE-2020-10932
Published: July 12, 2020 / Updated: July 13, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU29653
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2020-10932
CWE-ID: CWE-327
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to gain access to sensitive information.
The vulnerability exists due to incorrect implementation of modular inverse operation as implemented in Mbed TLS. An attacker with access to precise enough timing and memory access information (typically an untrusted operating system attacking a secure enclave such as SGX or the TrustZone secure world) can fully recover an ECDSA private key after observing a number of signature operations a.k.k. single-trace side channel attack.
Affected software
mbed TLS
Arch Linux
Fedora
mbedtls (Alpine package)
mbedtls
Arch Linux
Fedora
mbedtls (Alpine package)
mbedtls
How to mitigate CVE-2020-10932
Install updates from vendor's website.
mbed TLS - addressed in versions 2.7.15, 2.16.6, 2.22.0
mbedtls (Alpine package) - update to 2.16.6-r0
mbedtls - addressed in versions 2.7.15-1.el6, 2.7.15-1.el7, 2.16.6-1.el8, 2.16.6-1.fc31, 2.16.6-1.fc32
mbedtls (Alpine package) - update to 2.16.6-r0
mbedtls - addressed in versions 2.7.15-1.el6, 2.7.15-1.el7, 2.16.6-1.el8, 2.16.6-1.fc31, 2.16.6-1.fc32
External References
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FCWN5HIF4CJ2LZTOMEBJ7Q4IMMV7ZU2V/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZNOS2IIBH5WNJXZUV546PY7666DE7Y3L/
- https://tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/releases/mbedtls-2.16.6-and-2.7.15-released
- https://tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/security-advisories
- https://tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/security-advisories/mbedtls-security-advisory-2020-04
- https://mbed-tls.readthedocs.io/en/latest/security-advisories/mbedtls-security-advisory-2020-04/
Related Security Bulletins
- Side channel attack on ECDSA in Mbed TLS
- Arch Linux update for mbedtls
- Use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm in mbedtls (Alpine package)
- Fedora EPEL 6 update for mbedtls
- Fedora EPEL 7 update for mbedtls
- Fedora EPEL 8 update for mbedtls
- Fedora 31 update for mbedtls
- Fedora 32 update for mbedtls