CVE-2023-6129

POLY1305 MAC implementation corrupts vector registers on PowerPC

MEDIUM
6.5
CVSS Score
Published: January 9, 2024 at 04:36 PM UTC
Updated: October 14, 2026 at 11:17 PM UTC
3 products affected across 2 vendorsOpenSSLSIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFPSINEC NMS

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Severity
MEDIUM6.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Issue summary: The POLY1305 MAC (message authentication code) implementation contains a bug that might corrupt the internal state of applications running on PowerPC CPU based platforms if the CPU provides vector instructions. Impact summary: If an attacker can influence whether the POLY1305 MAC algorithm is used, the application state might be corrupted with various application dependent consequences. The POLY1305 MAC (message authentication code) implementation in OpenSSL for PowerPC CPUs restores the contents of vector registers in a different order than they are saved. Thus the contents of some of these vector registers are corrupted when returning to the caller. The vulnerable code is used only on newer PowerPC processors supporting the PowerISA 2.07 instructions. The consequences of this kind of internal application state corruption can be various - from no consequences, if the calling application does not depend on the contents of non-volatile XMM registers at all, to the worst consequences, where the attacker could get complete control of the application process. However unless the compiler uses the vector registers for storing pointers, the most likely consequence, if any, would be an incorrect result of some application dependent calculations or a crash leading to a denial of service. The POLY1305 MAC algorithm is most frequently used as part of the CHACHA20-POLY1305 AEAD (authenticated encryption with associated data) algorithm. The most common usage of this AEAD cipher is with TLS protocol versions 1.2 and 1.3. If this cipher is enabled on the server a malicious client can influence whether this AEAD cipher is used. This implies that TLS server applications using OpenSSL can be potentially impacted. However we are currently not aware of any concrete application that would be affected by this issue therefore we consider this a Low severity security issue.

Affected

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

3.0.0 ≤ v ≤ 3.0.123.1.0 ≤ v ≤ 3.1.43.0.03.1.03.2.0
Affected range stops below 3.0.13, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.1.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3.2.1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < V3.0 SP1
Affected range stops below V3.0 SP1, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

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

CVSS

6.5MEDIUMCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
LOW
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-440CWE-787

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