rustls: An unauthenticated ServerHello poisons the per-name key-exchange record, so later ClientHellos carry only a classical X25519 share
- 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- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean?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
- The rating the maker of the software gives it. Shown when it differs from the CVSS level.What do these mean? →
- Low (ghsa)
- Fix
- Fixed in 0.23.46, 0.24.0-dev.2
- 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
Summary
The rustls TLS client library is affected when it stores per-server-name key-exchange predictions, which can make later connections to that server offer only classical X25519 key exchange. If the server accepts that share, the connection completes without error and loses post-quantum protection, so recorded sessions could later be decrypted by a quantum adversary.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
The client records the server-selected key-exchange group per server name when it processes the ServerHello, before the server is authenticated. A network attacker can answer one connection attempt for a target name with a ServerHello that selects X25519 and close the connection. Later ClientHellos for that name carry one X25519 share while supported_groups still lists X25519MLKEM768 first. If the server accepts that share instead of sending a HelloRetryRequest, the handshake completes with classical key exchange only and no error. An attacker that answers one connection attempt for the target name with a ServerHello selecting X25519 changes every later ClientHello of that client for that name, for as long as the entry stays in the store. No certificate or completed handshake is needed: it parses the ClientHello, sends the ServerHello, and closes. TLS 1.3 transcript binding stops an on-path attacker from editing the ClientHello of one connection. It does not stop the attacker from steering the client's prediction state beforehand, because that state is written from an unauthenticated message. What does not trigger it • Servers that send a HelloRetryRequest. The connection stays hybrid and costs one extra round trip. • A client configuration with resumption disabled: nothing is stored. • A different server name: the record is per name. Impact If the genuine server picks the group for which a share is present, instead of sending a HelloRetryRequest for its preferred hybrid group, the handshake completes with classical key exchange only, between two peers that both support the hybrid group. No error is raised. The confidentiality of recorded sessions against a future quantum adversary is lost for those connections (harvest now, decrypt later). There is no key compromise and no authentication bypass. Note that this behaviour is discussed at length in draft-ietf-tls-key-share-prediction so the actual security impact is largely down to a server policy decision.
Timeline
- Advisory published
- Record last updated
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- rustlscrates.io
fixed in 0.23.46
- rustlscrates.io
From 0.24.0-dev.1 · fixed in 0.24.0-dev.2