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Medium

Cleartext Signed Message Signature Spoofing in openpgpjs

Type: advisorySources: OSV

OpenPGP.js is a JavaScript implementation of the OpenPGP protocol. In affected versions OpenPGP Cleartext Signed Messages are cryptographically signed messages where the signed text is readable without special tools. These messages typically contain a "Hash: ..." header declaring the hash algorithm used to compute the signature digest. OpenPGP.js up to v5.9.0 ignored any data preceding the "Hash: ..." texts when verifying the signature. As a result, malicious parties could add arbitrary text to a third-party Cleartext Signed Message, to lead the victim to believe that the arbitrary text was signed. A user or application is vulnerable to said attack vector if it verifies the CleartextMessage by only checking the returned `verified` property, discarding the associated `data` information, and instead _visually trusting_ the contents of the original message. Since `verificationResult.data` would always contain the actual signed data, users and apps that check this information are not vulnerable. Similarly, given a CleartextMessage object, retrieving the data using `getText()` or the `text` field returns only the contents that are considered when verifying the signature. Finally, re-armoring a CleartextMessage object (using `armor()` will also result in a "sanitised" version, with the extraneous text being removed. This issue has been addressed in version 5.10.1 (current stable version) which will reject messages when calling `openpgp.readCleartextMessage()` and in version 4.10.11

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2023-41037
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
3 Nov 2026, 13:55 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

Cleartext Signed Message Signature Spoofing in openpgpjs

core-osv · Original source

Published 29 Aug 2023, 16:46 UTC

OpenPGP.js is a JavaScript implementation of the OpenPGP protocol. In affected versions OpenPGP Cleartext Signed Messages are cryptographically signed messages where the signed text is readable without special tools. These messages typically contain a "Hash: ..." header declaring the hash algorithm used to compute the signature digest. OpenPGP.js up to v5.9.0 ignored any data preceding the "Hash: ..." texts when verifying the signature. As a result, malicious parties could add arbitrary text to a third-party Cleartext Signed Message, to lead the victim to believe that the arbitrary text was signed. A user or application is vulnerable to said attack vector if it verifies the CleartextMessage by only checking the returned `verified` property, discarding the associated `data` information, and instead _visually trusting_ the contents of the original message. Since `verificationResult.data` would always contain the actual signed data, users and apps that check this information are not vulnerable. Similarly, given a CleartextMessage object, retrieving the data using `getText()` or the `text` field returns only the contents that are considered when verifying the signature. Finally, re-armoring a CleartextMessage object (using `armor()` will also result in a "sanitised" version, with the extraneous text being removed. This issue has been addressed in version 5.10.1 (current stable version) which will reject messages when calling `openpgp.readCleartextMessage()` and in version 4.10.11

osv:CVE-2023-41037
Complete source record
{
  "id": "d7a3eb6d143e95f179d18efb39a27d75cce2ff05a967df8bf9594c222f4e91ee",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-41037",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Cleartext Signed Message Signature Spoofing in openpgpjs",
    "summary": "OpenPGP.js is a JavaScript implementation of the OpenPGP protocol. In affected versions OpenPGP Cleartext Signed Messages are cryptographically signed messages where the signed text is readable without special tools. These messages typically contain a \"Hash: ...\" header declaring the hash algorithm used to compute the signature digest. OpenPGP.js up to v5.9.0 ignored any data preceding the \"Hash: ...\" texts when verifying the signature. As a result, malicious parties could add arbitrary text to a third-party Cleartext Signed Message, to lead the victim to believe that the arbitrary text was signed. A user or application is vulnerable to said attack vector if it verifies the CleartextMessage by only checking the returned `verified` property, discarding the associated `data` information, and instead _visually trusting_ the contents of the original message. Since `verificationResult.data` would always contain the actual signed data, users and apps that check this information are not vulnerable. Similarly, given a CleartextMessage object, retrieving the data using `getText()` or the `text` field returns only the contents that are considered when verifying the signature. Finally, re-armoring a CleartextMessage object (using `armor()` will also result in a \"sanitised\" version, with the extraneous text being removed. This issue has been addressed in version 5.10.1 (current stable version) which will reject messages when calling `openpgp.readCleartextMessage()` and in version 4.10.11",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2023-41037",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2023-41037",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2023-41037",
        "GHSA-ch3c-v47x-4pgp"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/openpgpjs/openpgpjs",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "d8a1e25a5248a066356e0130668d4055209b5f74"
                },
                {
                  "introduced": "acafb2866128d11dd55b7d0927957cd3880c7422"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4df86e53a79ca1a2998326f6e526d3856992aee6"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "6b43e02a254853f5ff508ebd1b07541f78b7c566"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:openpgpjs:openpgpjs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "4.10.11"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:openpgpjs:openpgpjs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "5.0.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "fixed": "5.10.0"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "6b43e02a254853f5ff508ebd1b07541f78b7c566"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "v4.10.10",
            "v5.9.0",
            "v5.8.0",
            "v5.7.0",
            "v5.6.0",
            "v5.5.0",
            "v5.4.0",
            "v5.3.1",
            "v5.3.0",
            "v5.2.1",
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            "v5.1.0",
            "v5.0.1",
            "v5.0.0",
            "v4.10.9",
            "v4.10.8",
            "v4.10.7",
            "v4.10.6",
            "v4.10.5",
            "v4.10.4",
            "v4.10.3",
            "v4.10.2",
            "v4.10.1",
            "v4.10.0",
            "v4.9.1",
            "v4.9.0",
            "v4.8.1",
            "v4.8.0",
            "v4.7.2",
            "v4.7.1",
            "v4.7.0",
            "v4.6.2",
            "v4.6.1",
            "v4.6.0",
            "v4.5.5",
            "v4.5.4",
            "v4.5.3",
            "v4.5.2",
            "v4.5.1",
            "v4.4.7",
            "v4.4.6",
            "v4.4.5",
            "v4.4.4",
            "v4.4.3",
            "v4.4.2",
            "v4.4.1",
            "v4.3.0",
            "v4.2.2",
            "v4.2.1",
            "v4.2.0",
            "v4.1.2",
            "v4.1.1",
            "v4.1.0",
            "v4.0.2",
            "v4.0.1",
            "v3.1.2",
            "v4.0.0",
            "v3.1.1",
            "v3.1.0",
            "v3.0.13",
            "v3.0.12",
            "v3.0.11",
            "v3.0.9",
            "v3.0.8",
            "v3.0.7",
            "v3.0.6",
            "v3.0.4",
            "v2.3.2",
            "v2.3.1",
            "v2.3.0",
            "v2.2.2",
            "v2.2.1",
            "v2.2.0",
            "v2.1.0",
            "v2.0.1",
            "v2.0.0",
            "v1.5.7",
            "v1.5.6",
            "v1.5.5",
            "v1.5.4",
            "v1.5.3",
            "v1.5.2",
            "v1.5.1",
            "v1.5.0",
            "v1.4.1",
            "v1.4.0",
            "v1.3.0",
            "v1.2.0",
            "v1.1.0",
            "v1.0.1",
            "v1.0.0",
            "v0.11.1",
            "v0.11.0",
            "v0.10.3",
            "v0.10.2",
            "v0.10.1",
            "v0.10.0",
            "v0.9.0",
            "v0.8.2",
            "v0.8.1",
            "v0.8.0",
            "v0.7.2",
            "v0.7.1",
            "v0.7.0",
            "v0.6.5",
            "v0.6.3",
            "v0.6.2",
            "v0.6.1",
            "v0.6.0",
            "v0.5.1",
            "v0.5.0",
            "v0.4.1",
            "v0.4.0",
            "v0.3.2",
            "v0.3.1",
            "v0.3.0",
            "v0.2.1",
            "v0.2.0"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-41037.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:29.551202309Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/41xxx/CVE-2023-41037.json",
        "https://github.com/openpgpjs/openpgpjs/security/advisories/GHSA-ch3c-v47x-4pgp",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41037",
        "https://github.com/openpgpjs/openpgpjs/commit/6b43e02a254853f5ff508ebd1b07541f78b7c566"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-347"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/41xxx/CVE-2023-41037.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2023-41037",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 496118,
  "published_at": "2023-08-29T16:46:47.708+00:00"
}