PqcleanApplication · Pqclean Project

CVE-2023-24025

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
CRYSTALS-DILITHIUM (in Post-Quantum Cryptography Selected Algorithms 2022) in PQClean d03da30 may allow universal forgeries of digital signatures via a template side-channel attack because of intermediate data leakage of one vector.

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 · moderate confidence

CRYSTALS-DILITHIUM signature scheme implementation in PQClean library (d03da30) contains a side-channel vulnerability where intermediate data leakage of one vector enables a template side-channel attack allowing universal signature forgeries. An attacker with the ability to perform template side-channel measurements can recover sufficient information to forge valid signatures for arbitrary messages.

MitigationUpdate PQClean to a patched version that addresses the template side-channel leakage. Review deployed systems using this library and consider implementing additional side-channel countermeasures such as constant-time implementations and hardware-based attack prevention.

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
PqcleanApplication
Affected:all versions

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 PQClean library in your environment
    Search project directories, dependencies, and build configurations for PQClean source files (dilitheum*.c, dilithium*.h) or library references
    Affected if PQClean library files or package dependencies are present in your codebase or deployed binaries
  2. Identify CRYSTALS-DILITHIUM signature usage
    Search source code and compiled binaries for dilithium_sign, dilithium_verify function calls or include statements for dilithium.h
    Affected if Your application or service uses CRYSTALS-DILITHIUM signature functions from the PQClean library
  3. Determine the PQClean version or commit
    Check the git commit hash in your PQClean installation folder (look for .git directory), or search for version strings in header files
    Affected if The commit is d03da30 or any version prior to the CVE-2023-24025 patch (all versions are currently affected)
  4. Check if side-channel attack is feasible in your deployment
    Evaluate whether an attacker could physically access or place measurement probes near the machine performing DILITHIUM signing operations
    Affected if The system performing signatures is physically accessible or subject to electromagnetic/proximity measurements

If your environment uses PQClean's CRYSTALS-DILITHIUM implementation and an attacker can perform template side-channel measurements against signing operations, you are affected by this vulnerability.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update PQClean to a patched version that addresses the template side-channel leakage. Review deployed systems using this library and consider implementing additional side-channel countermeasures such as constant-time implementations and hardware-based attack prevention.

Fix this in Pqclean Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,120
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2023-24025 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
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