Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat
CVE-2023-50781
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 · uneditedA flaw was found in m2crypto. This issue may allow a remote attacker to decrypt captured messages in TLS servers that use RSA key exchanges, which may lead to exposure of confidential or sensitive data.
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 confidenceThis is a vulnerability in the m2crypto Python library (a wrapper for OpenSSL) that allows a remote attacker to decrypt captured TLS traffic in servers using RSA key exchanges. This is likely a variant of a padding oracle attack (similar to Bleichenbacher-style attacks) on RSA key exchange in TLS, enabling decryption of sensitive data in transit.
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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
= 8.0= 9.0
Update InfrastructureApplication
= 4all versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if m2crypto is installedInventory Python packages on your system to determine if the m2crypto library is presentAffected if m2crypto is installed and being used in your environment
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Identify the m2crypto versionQuery the installed m2crypto package version using your package manager or Python package toolsAffected if The installed version falls within the affected ranges or, if version cannot be determined, assume all versions are affected per vendor advisory
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Determine if TLS services use m2cryptoReview your TLS-enabled services and applications to identify any that use m2crypto for SSL/TLS handlingAffected if Any TLS service or application leverages m2crypto for cryptographic operations
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Check if RSA key exchange is enabledInspect the TLS configuration of your services to determine whether RSA key exchange (TLS_RSA_WITH_* cipher suites) is permitted or enabledAffected if RSA key exchange is enabled or permitted in your TLS configuration and the service uses m2crypto
You are affected if m2crypto is installed and your TLS configuration allows RSA key exchange, regardless of the specific version since all versions are vulnerable.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate m2crypto to the latest patched version and configure TLS servers to use forward-secret key exchanges (e.g., ECDHE, DHE) instead of RSA key exchange where possible.
Fix this in Enterprise Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-50781 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-50781 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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