CVE-2018-6594Inadequate Encryption Strength in Pycrypto

Severity
7.5HIGHNVD
EPSS
0.8%
top 25.94%
CISA KEV
Not in KEV
Exploit
No known exploits
Timeline
PublishedFeb 3
Latest updateJul 9

Description

lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal.py in PyCrypto through 2.6.1 generates weak ElGamal key parameters, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext data (i.e., it does not have semantic security in face of a ciphertext-only attack). The Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption does not hold for PyCrypto's ElGamal implementation.

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NExploitability: 3.9 | Impact: 3.6

Affected Packages4 packages

Debianpycryptodome/pycryptodome< 3.4.11-1+3
NVDdlitz/pycrypto2.6.1
PyPIdlitz/pycrypto2.6.1
Palo Altopaloalto/pan-os

Also affects: Debian Linux 7.0, Ubuntu Linux 12.04, 14.04, 16.04, 17.10

🔴Vulnerability Details

4
GHSA
Pycrypto generates weak key parameters2018-07-12
OSV
Pycrypto generates weak key parameters2018-07-12
CVEList
CVE-2018-6594: lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal2018-02-03
OSV
CVE-2018-6594: lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal2018-02-03

📋Vendor Advisories

5
Palo Alto
PAN-SA-2025-0012 Informational Bulletin: OSS CVEs Fixed in PAN-OS2025-07-09
Ubuntu
Python Crypto vulnerability2018-04-09
Ubuntu
Python Crypto vulnerability2018-04-03
Red Hat
python-crypto: Weak ElGamal key parameters in PublicKey/ElGamal.py allow attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext2018-02-03
Debian
CVE-2018-6594: pycryptodome - lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal.py in PyCrypto through 2.6.1 generates weak ElGamal...2018

💬Community

3
Bugzilla
CVE-2018-6594 python-crypto: Weak ElGamal key parameters in PublicKey/ElGamal.py allow attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext [fedora-all]2018-02-06
Bugzilla
CVE-2018-6594 python-crypto: Weak ElGamal key parameters in PublicKey/ElGamal.py allow attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext [epel-all]2018-02-06
Bugzilla
CVE-2018-6594 python-crypto: Weak ElGamal key parameters in PublicKey/ElGamal.py allow attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext2018-02-06
CVE-2018-6594 — Inadequate Encryption Strength | cvebase