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Critical

Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2018-16115

Lightbend Akka 2.5.x before 2.5.16 allows message disclosure and modification because of an RNG error. A random number generator is used in Akka Remoting for TLS (both classic and Artery Remoting). Akka allows configuration of custom random number generators. For historical reasons, Akka included the AES128CounterSecureRNG and AES256CounterSecureRNG random number generators. The implementations had a bug that caused the generated numbers to be repeated after only a few bytes. The custom RNG implementations were not configured by default but examples in the documentation showed (and therefore implicitly recommended) using the custom ones. This can be used by an attacker to compromise the communication if these random number generators are enabled in configuration. It would be possible to eavesdrop, replay, or modify the messages sent with Akka Remoting/Cluster.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2018-16115
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
1 Nov 2026, 05:05 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2018-16115

core-osv · Original source

Published 29 Aug 2018, 22:29 UTC

Lightbend Akka 2.5.x before 2.5.16 allows message disclosure and modification because of an RNG error. A random number generator is used in Akka Remoting for TLS (both classic and Artery Remoting). Akka allows configuration of custom random number generators. For historical reasons, Akka included the AES128CounterSecureRNG and AES256CounterSecureRNG random number generators. The implementations had a bug that caused the generated numbers to be repeated after only a few bytes. The custom RNG implementations were not configured by default but examples in the documentation showed (and therefore implicitly recommended) using the custom ones. This can be used by an attacker to compromise the communication if these random number generators are enabled in configuration. It would be possible to eavesdrop, replay, or modify the messages sent with Akka Remoting/Cluster.

osv:CVE-2018-16115
Complete source record
{
  "id": "108ef251442c42a2a87e9da6f2a68858ceb56d63dcfd9cc78c4ed1c9db1441f0",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-16115",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2018-16115",
    "summary": "Lightbend Akka 2.5.x before 2.5.16 allows message disclosure and modification because of an RNG error. A random number generator is used in Akka Remoting for TLS (both classic and Artery Remoting). Akka allows configuration of custom random number generators. For historical reasons, Akka included the AES128CounterSecureRNG and AES256CounterSecureRNG random number generators. The implementations had a bug that caused the generated numbers to be repeated after only a few bytes. The custom RNG implementations were not configured by default but examples in the documentation showed (and therefore implicitly recommended) using the custom ones. This can be used by an attacker to compromise the communication if these random number generators are enabled in configuration. It would be possible to eavesdrop, replay, or modify the messages sent with Akka Remoting/Cluster.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2018-16115",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "critical",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2018-16115",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2018-16115",
        "GHSA-mr95-9rr4-668f"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/akka/akka-core",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "47045940d08c54eea190f522d9421dd38bee13da"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "cebcef2cbd3f14ddce8dc29a98443a8a002c488f"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:lightbend:akka:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "2.5.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "2.5.16"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2018-16115.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-24T10:30:24.487941543Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/current/security/2018-08-29-aes-rng.html"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {}
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2018-16115",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 431160,
  "published_at": "2018-08-29T22:29:00.23+00:00"
}