ML-KEM-1024 x64 AVX2 incomplete cipher text comparison enables IND-CCA2 break and static private-key recovery
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- Fix
- Fix or patch referenced
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: none
- Automatable: no
- Technical impact: partial
Summary
wolfSSL's AVX2-optimized ML-KEM implementation (mlkem_cmp_avx2) compares only 1536 of the 1568 ciphertext bytes during the Fujisaki-Okamoto re-encryption check in ML-KEM-1024 decapsulation. Ciphertexts that differ from the expected re-encryption solely in bytes 1536-1567 bypass implicit rejection and are accepted as valid, breaking IND-CCA2 security. An attacker able to submit chosen ciphertexts to a decapsulation oracle that uses a static ML-KEM-1024 key, and to observe whether the genuine shared secret or the implicit-rejection secret was produced, can use this as a plaintext-checking oracle to recover the private key. A proof of concept recovered a full ML-KEM-1024 private key with approximately 98% success using roughly 350 chosen ciphertexts. The flaw is a deterministic logic error and does not rely on timing measurements.
Timeline
- CVE published
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
- Record last updated
Affected versions
- wolfSSL wolfSSL
From 5.7.0 · through 5.9.1