Ciphertext decryption via PKCS#1 padding oracle
Published Jan 20, 2021 · Updated Jul 9, 2026
Padding-oracle exposure in STMicroelectronics X-CUBE-CRYPTOLIB 3.1.0 and 3.1.2 allows remote attackers to decrypt RSA ciphertexts. The published PoC wraps the RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 decryption routine in a service whose responses distinguish padding success from later parsing failure. Exploitation requires a reachable application that preserves this distinction; ST states that library decryption is constant-time and returns no padding-specific error, making exposure dependent on higher-level behavior.
Summary
What happened
Padding-oracle exposure in STMicroelectronics X-CUBE-CRYPTOLIB 3.1.0 and 3.1.2 allows remote attackers to decrypt RSA ciphertexts. The published PoC wraps the RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 decryption routine in a service whose responses distinguish padding success from later parsing failure. Exploitation requires a reachable application that preserves this distinction; ST states that library decryption is constant-time and returns no padding-specific error, making exposure dependent on higher-level behavior.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-20949
- Published
- Jan 20, 2021
- Updated
- Jul 9, 2026
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-327
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 20, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jul 9, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Bleichenbacher in microcontroller libraries PoCfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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