CVE-2021-4160

BN_mod_exp may produce incorrect results on MIPS

MEDIUM
5.9
CVSS Score
Published: January 28, 2022 at 09:28 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:19 AM UTC
8 products affected across 4 vendorsDebian LinuxPeopleSoft Enterprise PeopleToolsOpenSSL

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Severity
MEDIUM5.9
Exploit prediction
EPSS 4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

There is a carry propagation bug in the MIPS32 and MIPS64 squaring procedure. Many EC algorithms are affected, including some of the TLS 1.3 default curves. Impact was not analyzed in detail, because the pre-requisites for attack are considered unlikely and include reusing private keys. Analysis suggests that attacks against RSA and DSA as a result of this defect would be very difficult to perform and are not believed likely. Attacks against DH are considered just feasible (although very difficult) because most of the work necessary to deduce information about a private key may be performed offline. The amount of resources required for such an attack would be significant. However, for an attack on TLS to be meaningful, the server would have to share the DH private key among multiple clients, which is no longer an option since CVE-2016-0701. This issue affects OpenSSL versions 1.0.2, 1.1.1 and 3.0.0. It was addressed in the releases of 1.1.1m and 3.0.1 on the 15th of December 2021. For the 1.0.2 release it is addressed in git commit 6fc1aaaf3 that is available to premium support customers only. It will be made available in 1.0.2zc when it is released. The issue only affects OpenSSL on MIPS platforms. Fixed in OpenSSL 3.0.1 (Affected 3.0.0). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1m (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1l). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2zc-dev (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2zb).

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Vendor states this is fixed in 1.0.2zc-dev (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 1.1.1m (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.0.1 (unaffected)
v < 1.01.01.0 sp1
Affected range stops below 1.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfo

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