CVE Intelligence
High Info disclosure

CVE-2023-50781 — M2crypto: bleichenbacher timing attacks in the rsa decryption api - incomplete fix for cve-2020-25657

A flaw was found in m2crypto. This issue may allow a remote attacker to decrypt captured messages in TLS servers that use RSA key exchanges, which may lead to exposure of confidential or sensitive data.

Published Feb 5, 2024 · Updated Oct 14, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP, GitHub Security Advisories · CNA: redhat

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 1.1% (30-day exploitation probability)+10
  • Technical severity (high)+6

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
1.12%
ahead of 66% of scored CVEs · Oct 15, 2026
Affects
M2crypto Project
M2crypto and 3 more
CVSS base
7.5
High · 4 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
None
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Partial
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (M2crypto Project M2crypto, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Red Hat Update Infrastructure 4 for Cloud Providers…).
  2. The attack is network-based and needs no privileges: restrict exposure (ACLs, VPN, WAF) until patched.
  3. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (info disclosure), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
M2crypto Project M2crypto ≤ 0.40.1 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 8.0version 9.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Red Hat Red Hat Update Infrastructure 4 for Cloud Providers versions not specified by the source Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat Update Infrastructure version 4 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Pip M2crypto ≤ 0.40.1 Vulnerable GitHub Security Advisories

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
7.5 CVSS 3.1 High 3.9 3.6 secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
7.5 CVSS 3.1 High 3.9 3.6 nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database
7.5 CVSS 3.1 High — — redhat via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
5.9 CVSS 3.1 Medium — — GitHub, Inc. via GitHub Security Advisories
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)
Sources disagree significantly and the divergence is under review. Every score is kept with its origin. For prioritization we use 7.5 (secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-203 · Observable Discrepancy

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 14, 2026 → Oct 15, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 1.12%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).
  • Look for anomalous data read/export volumes and access to sensitive records.
web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPSapplication logsauthentication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · pip/m2crypto
    Oct 14, 2026 · GitHub Security Advisories
  • Affected products added · red hat/red hat update infrastructure 4 for cloud providers
    Oct 14, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 14, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 14, 2026
  • Affected products added · redhat/enterprise linux, redhat/update infrastructure, m2crypto project/m2crypto
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 7.5
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Analyzed
    Oct 14, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 14, 2026 · Alertas do Telegram
  • 2024
  • CVE published
    Feb 5, 2024 · redhat

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 2× References added · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026
  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 14, 2026 – Oct 14, 2026

References

6 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

M2crypto Project
every CVE for this vendor
Info disclosure
same class
CWE-203
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-104046 Sssd: sssd: denial of service via incomplete identity provider authentication requests 9d
  • CVE-2026-104045 Sssd: sssd: denial of service via race condition in autofs responder 9d
  • CVE-2026-104047 Sssd: sssd: information disclosure via query injection in entra id lookups 9d
  • CVE-2026-104048 Sssd: sssd: authorization bypass via cross-domain username collision in hbac evaluation 9d
  • CVE-2026-102558 Libsoup: libsoup: heap buffer overflow during websocket receive-buffer growth 16d
  • CVE-2026-102555 Libsoup: libsoup: heap buffer overflow via uninitialized length in data-uri base64 decoding 16d

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2023-50781 is "M2crypto: bleichenbacher timing attacks in the rsa decryption api - incomplete fix for cve-2020-25657", rated High. It affects M2crypto (M2crypto Project); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 7.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 1.12% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

Comments

Moderated technical discussion. Read the community guidelines.

No comments yet.

Sign in or create an account to comment and suggest corrections.