CVE-2020-12402: Medium severity Mozilla Thunderbird vulnerability
A flaw was found in NSS, where it is vulnerable to RSA key generation cache timing side-channel attacks. An attacker with sufficient access to mount cache timing attacks during the RSA key generation process could recover the private key. The highest threat to this flaw is to confidentiality.
Other sources
During RSA key generation, bignum implementations used a variation of the Binary Extended Euclidean Algorithm which entailed significantly input-dependent flow. This allowed an attacker able to perform electromagnetic-based side channel attacks to record traces leading to the recovery of the secret primes. Note: An unmodified Firefox browser does not generate RSA keys in normal operation and is not affected, but products built on top of it might. This vulnerability affects Firefox < 78.
During RSA key generation, bignum implementations used a variation of the Binary Extended Euclidean Algorithm which entailed significantly input-dependent flow. This allowed an attacker able to perform electromagnetic-based side channel attacks to record traces leading to the recovery of the secret primes. We would like to thank Sohaib ul Hassan for contributing a fix for this issue as well.Note: An unmodified Firefox browser does not generate RSA keys in normal operation and is not affected, but products built on top of it might.
— Mozilla
It was found that NSS is vulnerable to RSA key generation cache timing side channel attacks. An attacker with sufficient access to mount cache timing attacks during the RSA key generation process could recover the private key.
— Red Hat
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
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redhat/nsprto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.25.0-2.el7_9 - Upgrade
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redhat/nssto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.53.1-3.el7_9 - Upgrade
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redhat/nss-softoknto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.53.1-6.el7_9 - Upgrade
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redhat/nss-utilto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.53.1-1.el7_9 - Upgrade
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redhat/nsprto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.25.0-2.el8_2 - Upgrade
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redhat/nssto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.53.1-11.el8_2 - Upgrade
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redhat/nssto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 3.53.1 - Upgrade
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debian/nssto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 2:3.61-1+deb11u3Fixed in 2:3.87.1-1Fixed in 2:3.103-1 - Upgrade
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Thunderbirdto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 78 - Upgrade
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Firefoxto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 78 - Upgrade
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alpine/firefoxto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 78.0-r0 - Upgrade
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alpine/librewolfto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 78.0-r0 - Upgrade
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alpine/nssto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 3.53.1-r0
Event History
Parent advisories
This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.
Peer vulnerabilities
Found alongside the following vulnerabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the vulnerability ID for this flaw?
The vulnerability ID for this flaw is CVE-2020-12402.
What is the severity of CVE-2020-12402?
The severity of CVE-2020-12402 is medium, with a severity value of 4.4.
Which software and versions are affected by CVE-2020-12402?
Mozilla Firefox version up to 78, Red Hat NSS version up to 3.53.1, Red Hat NSPR version up to 4.25.0-2.el7_9, Ubuntu NSS version up to 2:3.53.1, Ubuntu NSS version up to 3.28.4-0ubuntu0.14.04.5+.
What is the remedy for CVE-2020-12402?
Update Mozilla Firefox to version 78, update Red Hat NSS to version 3.53.1, update Red Hat NSPR to version 4.25.0-2.el7_9, update Ubuntu NSS to version 2:3.53.1, update Ubuntu NSS to version 3.28.4-0ubuntu0.14.04.5+.
Are there any references for CVE-2020-12402?
Yes, the references for CVE-2020-12402 are: - [Bugzilla](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1631597) - [Mozilla Security Advisories](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2020-24/) - [Mozilla NSS Repository](https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/nss/rev/699541a7793bbe9b20f1d73dc49e25c6054aa4c1)