CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2018-18531

Use of Insufficiently Random Values

Published: Oct 19, 2018 | Modified: Jan 25, 2019
CVSS 3.x
9.8
CRITICAL
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 2.x
5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

text/impl/DefaultTextCreator.java, text/impl/ChineseTextProducer.java, and text/impl/FiveLetterFirstNameTextCreator.java in kaptcha 2.3.2 use the Random (rather than SecureRandom) function for generating CAPTCHA values, which makes it easier for remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions via a brute-force approach.

Weakness

The product uses insufficiently random numbers or values in a security context that depends on unpredictable numbers.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Kaptcha Kaptcha_project 2.3.2 2.3.2

Potential Mitigations

  • Use a well-vetted algorithm that is currently considered to be strong by experts in the field, and select well-tested implementations with adequate length seeds.
  • In general, if a pseudo-random number generator is not advertised as being cryptographically secure, then it is probably a statistical PRNG and should not be used in security-sensitive contexts.
  • Pseudo-random number generators can produce predictable numbers if the generator is known and the seed can be guessed. A 256-bit seed is a good starting point for producing a “random enough” number.

References