CVE-2023-42811

AEADs/aes-gcm: Plaintext exposed in decrypt_in_place_detached even on tag verification failure

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: September 22, 2023 at 03:19 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:24 AM UTC
3 products affected across 3 vendorsFedoraAes GcmAEADs

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
PoC

Description

aes-gcm is a pure Rust implementation of the AES-GCM. Starting in version 0.10.0 and prior to version 0.10.3, in the AES GCM implementation of decrypt_in_place_detached, the decrypted ciphertext (i.e. the correct plaintext) is exposed even if tag verification fails. If a program using the `aes-gcm` crate's `decrypt_in_place*` APIs accesses the buffer after decryption failure, it will contain a decryption of an unauthenticated input. Depending on the specific nature of the program this may enable Chosen Ciphertext Attacks (CCAs) which can cause a catastrophic breakage of the cipher including full plaintext recovery. Version 0.10.3 contains a fix for this issue.

Affected

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

0.10.0 ≤ v < 0.10.3
Affected range stops below 0.10.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 0.10.3
Affected range stops below 0.10.3, 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

SSVCPoCNot automatablePartial impact

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

CVSS

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

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-347

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