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LeapOperating system · Opensuse

CVE-2015-7940

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-11-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.50 or later.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Bouncy Castle Java library before 1.51 does not validate a point is withing the elliptic curve, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain private keys via a series of crafted elliptic curve Diffie Hellman (ECDH) key exchanges, aka an "invalid curve attack."

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The Bouncy Castle Java library before version 1.51 fails to validate that points used in elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchanges lie on the specified curve. This allows attackers to conduct invalid curve attacks by crafting malicious key exchanges that can leak private key information through side channels in the key derivation.

MitigationUpgrade Bouncy Castle to version 1.51 or later which includes proper elliptic curve point validation. Test thoroughly to ensure existing ECDH implementations function correctly after the upgrade.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
LeapOperating system
Affected:= 42.1
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 13.1= 13.2
Bouncy Castle Crypto PackageApplication
Affected:<= 1.50
Application Testing SuiteApplication
Affected:= 12.5.0.1= 12.5.0.2= 12.5.0.3
Enterprise Manager Ops CenterApplication
Affected:= 12.1.4= 12.2.2
Peoplesoft Enterprise PeopletoolsApplication
Affected:= 8.54= 8.55
Virtual Desktop InfrastructureApplication
Affected:= 3.5.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate Bouncy Castle library files
    Search for bcprov*.jar or bouncycastle*.jar files in your application servers, lib directories, and Java classpath. Common paths include $JAVA_HOME/lib/ext, application lib folders, and webapp WEB-INF/lib directories.
    Affected if A Bouncy Castle library jar file exists with version 1.50 or earlier (check the filename or MANIFEST.MF inside the jar)
  2. Determine Bouncy Castle version
    Open the jar file and inspect the MANIFEST.MF file for the Implementation-Version attribute, or use 'jar -tf bcprov*.jar | grep MANIFEST' to extract version information.
    Affected if The version is 1.50 or below, or the version cannot be determined and the library is present
  3. Identify ECDH usage in Java code
    Search Java source code and compiled classes for imports of org.bouncycastle.crypto.agreement.ECDHC or org.bouncycastle.crypto.agreement.ECDHBasicAgreement, and review application configuration for ECDH-based SSL/TLS or key exchange implementations.
    Affected if The application uses Bouncy Castle for ECDH key exchanges
  4. Check Oracle product bundled libraries
    For Oracle Application Testing Suite, Oracle Enterprise Manager, Oracle Peoplesoft Enterprise, or Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, locate the bundled Bouncy Castle jar within the product installation directories (often under lib, modules, or ohs directories).
    Affected if The product version matches those listed (12.5.0.x, 12.1.4, 12.2.2, 8.54, 8.55, or 3.5.2) and contains a vulnerable Bouncy Castle library
  5. Review ECDH key derivation implementations
    If ECDH is in use, examine the key derivation code to confirm whether proper point validation is performed before using the shared secret. Look for calls to checkPoint() or curve.validatePoint() methods.
    Affected if No explicit point-on-curve validation is performed before the ECDH agreement phase

You are affected if Bouncy Castle version 1.50 or earlier is present and your application or product uses ECDH key exchanges without additional curve point validation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.50
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Bouncy Castle to version 1.51 or later which includes proper elliptic curve point validation. Test thoroughly to ensure existing ECDH implementations function correctly after the upgrade.

Fix this in Leap Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,200
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-7940 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data