CVE-2020-12402
Description
A flaw was found in NSS, where it is vulnerable to RSA key generation cache timing side-channel attacks. An attacker with sufficient access to mount cache timing attacks during the RSA key generation process could recover the private key. The highest threat to this flaw is to confidentiality.
Statement
A timing attack was found in the way NSS generated RSA keys. A man-in-the-middle attacker could use this attack during RSA key generation to recover the private key. This attack is only feasible when the attacker is local to the machine or in certain cross-VM scenarios where the signature is being generated. Attacks over the network or via the internet are not feasible.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 4.4 | 4.4 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | High | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | Low | N/A |
| User Interaction | Required | Required | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | High | High | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | N/A |
| Availability Impact | None | None | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Application Data
The confidentiality of sensitive data may be compromised by the use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm.
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Application Data
The integrity of sensitive data may be compromised by the use of a broken or risky cryptographic algorithm.
Accountability,Non-Repudiation
Technical Impact: Hide Activities
If the cryptographic algorithm is used to ensure the identity of the source of the data (such as digital signatures), then a broken algorithm will compromise this scheme and the source of the data cannot be proven.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank the Mozilla Project for reporting this issue. Upstream acknowledges Billy Bob Brumley (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC), Cesar Pereida (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC), Nicola Tuveri (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC), and Yuval Yarom (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC) as the original reporters.
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