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RnpApplication · Ribose

CVE-2023-29480

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-04-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.16.3 or later.
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
Ribose RNP before 0.16.3 sometimes lets secret keys remain unlocked after use.

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

Ribose RNP before version 0.16.3 contains a key management vulnerability where secret cryptographic keys are not properly locked or wiped from memory after use. This leaves keys vulnerable to memory scraping attacks, allowing potentially malicious actors to recover sensitive key material from the application's memory space.

MitigationUpgrade to Ribose RNP version 0.16.3 or later, which contains the fix for proper key locking. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review memory handling of cryptographic operations and ensure keys are explicitly zeroed after use.

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
RnpApplication
Affected:< 0.16.3

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. Identify if Ribose RNP is installed
    Check for the presence of Ribose RNP library in your environment. This may be a standalone installation, a dependency of another application, or bundled with software that uses RNP for PGP operations. Search for files named 'rnp' or 'librnp' and check package managers for rnp-related packages.
    Affected if Ribose RNP library is found in the environment
  2. Determine the installed version of Ribose RNP
    Run the version command for the RNP installation. Depending on how it was installed, this could be 'rnp --version', checking a library file's metadata, or examining version information from the package manager that installed it.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 0.16.3 (e.g., 0.16.2, 0.16.1, etc.)
  3. Identify applications or services using Ribose RNP
    Review any applications, services, or tools that depend on Ribose RNP for cryptographic operations. Check application logs, dependencies, or configuration files that may reference RNP.
    Affected if Any application using Ribose RNP version below 0.16.3 for PGP key operations
  4. Assess key usage exposure
    Determine whether sensitive PGP key operations have been performed using the affected RNP installation. This includes key generation, encryption, signing, or key import operations where secret key material would have been loaded into memory.
    Affected if Secret key material has been processed by an affected version of Ribose RNP, leaving potential key residues in memory

A user is affected if Ribose RNP version 0.16.3 or higher is not installed and sensitive cryptographic keys have been processed using the vulnerable version.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.16.3 or later
Fixed in 0.16.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Ribose RNP version 0.16.3 or later, which contains the fix for proper key locking. If immediate upgrade is not possible, review memory handling of cryptographic operations and ensure keys are explicitly zeroed after use.

Recommended fix High confidence

0.16.3

  1. 1. Identify the current Rnp version in use by checking your project's dependencies (e.g., package.json, Cargo.toml, or gemlock depending on your package manager).
  2. 2. Upgrade Rnp to version 0.16.3 or later. For example, if using a package manager, run the appropriate update command such as 'cargo update rnp' for Rust, or update the version in your dependency file and run 'bundle install' / 'npm install' / etc.
  3. 3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the installed Rnp version matches 0.16.3 or higher.
  4. 4. Test that your cryptographic operations (key generation, signing, decryption) continue to function correctly with the new version.
Caveat No breaking changes documented in the provided materials; the fix addresses a security vulnerability without behavioral changes.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Rnp Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
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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-2023-29480 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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