NTRU leaks private key information by reducing secret values with a non-constant-time integer division
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, NTRU reduced secret values with the % operator in three helpers whose reference implementations are deliberately division-free, so each reduction was carried out by an integer division whose latency depends on the secret operand. Polynomial.modQ divided by a variable divisor, which a compiler cannot strength-reduce to a multiply the way it can a constant one, so it emitted a division on every call including on the decapsulation path where the dividend derives from the private key; Polynomial.mod3 and NTRUSampling.mod3 divided the secret key polynomials f and g during key generation, the message polynomials r and m during encapsulation, and coefficients recovered during decapsulation. An attacker able to measure that timing can recover information about the NTRU private key. modQ now masks, which is exact because q is always a power of two, and mod3 uses the reference implementation's division-free fold and select; the results are unchanged.
CVE-2026-18036
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-18036
BC-JAVA
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"repo": "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java",
"vendor": "Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.",
"modules": [
"core"
],
"product": "BC-JAVA",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1.73",
"lessThan": "1.86",
"versionType": "maven"
}
],
"platforms": [
"all"
],
"packageURL": "pkg:maven/org.bouncycastle/bcprov-jdk18on",
"packageName": "bcprov",
"programFiles": [
"Polynomial",
"NTRUSampling"
],
"collectionURL": "https://www.bouncycastle.org/download/bouncy-castle-java/",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected"
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-18036
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
high
Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics
- Event
- #8079 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date