CVE-2021-3446

A flaw was found in libtpms in versions before 0.8.2. The commonly used integration of libtpms with OpenSSL contained a vulnerability related to the returned IV (initialization vector) when certain symmetric ciphers were used. Instead of returning the last IV it returned the initial IV to the caller, thus weakening the subsequent encryption and decryption steps. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality.

Weakness

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

Affected Software

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.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/112.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/485.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

References

• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1939664