CVE-2023-3817

Excessive time spent checking DH q parameter value

MEDIUM
5.3
CVSS Score
Published: July 31, 2023 at 03:34 PM UTC
Updated: October 14, 2026 at 10:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorOpenSSL

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Severity
MEDIUM5.3
Exploit prediction
EPSS 3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Issue summary: Checking excessively long DH keys or parameters may be very slow. Impact summary: Applications that use the functions DH_check(), DH_check_ex() or EVP_PKEY_param_check() to check a DH key or DH parameters may experience long delays. Where the key or parameters that are being checked have been obtained from an untrusted source this may lead to a Denial of Service. The function DH_check() performs various checks on DH parameters. After fixing CVE-2023-3446 it was discovered that a large q parameter value can also trigger an overly long computation during some of these checks. A correct q value, if present, cannot be larger than the modulus p parameter, thus it is unnecessary to perform these checks if q is larger than p. An application that calls DH_check() and supplies a key or parameters obtained from an untrusted source could be vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack. The function DH_check() is itself called by a number of other OpenSSL functions. An application calling any of those other functions may similarly be affected. The other functions affected by this are DH_check_ex() and EVP_PKEY_param_check(). Also vulnerable are the OpenSSL dhparam and pkeyparam command line applications when using the "-check" option. The OpenSSL SSL/TLS implementation is not affected by this issue. The OpenSSL 3.0 and 3.1 FIPS providers are not affected by this issue.

Affected

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

Affected range stops below 1.0.2zi, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 1.1.1v, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.0.10, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.1.2, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

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

CVSS

5.3MEDIUMCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
LOW
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-606CWE-834

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