Axtls
CVE-2018-16149
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A04:2025 - Cryptographic Failures
ASVS 5.0
V11 - Cryptography Signature verification
|
| Impact | CVSS score of 5.9 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | This vulnerability can be exploited remotely over the network. Successful exploitation could compromise the medium-severity affected system. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
In sig_verify() in x509.c in axTLS version 2.1.3 and before, the PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification blindly trusts the declared lengths in the ASN.1 structure. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required. Public exploit code available.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-347. In sig_verify() in x509.c in axTLS version 2.1.3 and before, the PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification blindly trusts the declared lengths in the ASN.1 structure. Consequently, when small public exponents are being used, a remote attacker can generate purposefully crafted signatures (and put them on X.509 certificates) to induce illegal memory access and crash the verifier. Affected products include: Axtls Project Axtls. Version information: version 2.1.3.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
In sig_verify() in x509.c in axTLS version 2.1.3 and before, the PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification blindly trusts the declared lengths in the ASN.1 structure. Consequently, when small public exponents are being used, a remote attacker can generate purposefully crafted signatures (and put them on X.509 certificates) to induce illegal memory access and crash the verifier.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
tls1.c in Cameron Hamilton-Rich axTLS before 2.1.5 has a Buffer Overflow via a crafted sequence of TLS packets because t
In sig_verify() in x509.c in axTLS version 2.1.3 and before, the PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification does not properly ve
axTLS v2.1.5 was discovered to contain a heap buffer overflow in the bi_import function in axtls-code/crypto/bigint.c. R
process_certificate in tls1.c in Cameron Hamilton-Rich axTLS through 2.1.5 has a Buffer Overflow via a crafted TLS certi
The asn1_signature function in asn1.c in Cameron Hamilton-Rich axTLS through 2.1.5 has a Buffer Overflow that allows rem
In sig_verify() in x509.c in axTLS version 2.1.3 and before, the PKCS#1 v1.5 signature verification does not reject exce
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
Exploit-DB