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Bouncy Castle Denial of Service (DoS)

Moderate severity GitHub Reviewed Published Nov 23, 2023 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Jul 23, 2025

Package

maven org.bouncycastle:bcpkix-jdk18on (Maven)

Affected versions

< 1.73

Patched versions

1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk16 (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15 (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on (Maven)
< 1.70
None
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk16 (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73
maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on (Maven)
< 1.73
1.73

Description

Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.73 contains a potential Denial of Service (DoS) issue within the Bouncy Castle org.bouncycastle.openssl.PEMParser class. This class parses OpenSSL PEM encoded streams containing X.509 certificates, PKCS8 encoded keys, and PKCS7 objects. Parsing a file that has crafted ASN.1 data through the PEMParser causes an OutOfMemoryError, which can enable a denial of service attack.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Nov 23, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Nov 23, 2023
Reviewed Nov 24, 2023
Last updated Jul 23, 2025

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(19th percentile)

Weaknesses

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2023-33202

GHSA ID

GHSA-wjxj-5m7g-mg7q

Source code

Credits

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