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botan — security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVAdvisory ID: ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187

A side-channel issue was discovered in Botan before 2.9.0. An attacker capable of precisely measuring the time taken for ECC key generation may be able to derive information about the high bits of the secret key, as the function to derive the public point from the secret scalar uses an unblinded Montgomery ladder whose loop iteration count depends on the bitlength of the secret. This issue affects only key generation, not ECDSA signatures or ECDH key agreement.

Products
botan
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
2.9.0-r0
CVEs
CVE-2018-20187
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
31 Oct 2026, 22:15 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187

core-osv · Original source

Published 8 Mar 2019, 19:29 UTC

A side-channel issue was discovered in Botan before 2.9.0. An attacker capable of precisely measuring the time taken for ECC key generation may be able to derive information about the high bits of the secret key, as the function to derive the public point from the secret scalar uses an unblinded Montgomery ladder whose loop iteration count depends on the bitlength of the secret. This issue affects only key generation, not ECDSA signatures or ECDH key agreement.

osv:ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

botan

Fixed versions: 2.9.0-r0

Complete source record
{
  "id": "bb30b30990244bf8338f2b1c6447f75483b68e6155c29f37739745d38d6d8086",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187",
    "summary": "A side-channel issue was discovered in Botan before 2.9.0. An attacker capable of precisely measuring the time taken for ECC key generation may be able to derive information about the high bits of the secret key, as the function to derive the public point from the secret scalar uses an unblinded Montgomery ladder whose loop iteration count depends on the bitlength of the secret. This issue affects only key generation, not ECDSA signatures or ECDH key agreement.",
    "evidence": "osv:ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187",
    "products": [
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "botan",
          "evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "2.9.0-r0",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "botan",
          "evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
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            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          }
        ],
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      },
      {
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          "evidence": "/affected/2/package/name"
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      {
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      },
      {
        "name": {
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          "evidence": "/affected/4/package/name"
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      {
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      {
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        },
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            "evidence": "/affected/6/ranges"
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        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
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          "evidence": "/affected/7/package/name"
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        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
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        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
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          "evidence": "/affected/8/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "2.9.0-r0",
            "evidence": "/affected/8/ranges"
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        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "botan",
          "evidence": "/affected/9/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "2.9.0-r0",
            "evidence": "/affected/9/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "botan",
          "evidence": "/affected/10/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "2.9.0-r0",
            "evidence": "/affected/10/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      }
    ],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187",
      "aliases": [
        "ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
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              "events": [
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                  "introduced": "0"
                },
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                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.11"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
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              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
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                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "2.9.0-r0"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.12"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
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                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.13"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
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              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.14"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
        {
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                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.15"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
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              ]
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          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.16"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
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        },
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                },
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                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.17"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
        {
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              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "botan",
            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.18"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
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          ],
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            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.19"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
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        },
        {
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              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
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            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.20"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
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        },
        {
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              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
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            "purl": "pkg:apk/alpine/botan?arch=source",
            "ecosystem": "Alpine:v3.21"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/alpine/ALPINE-CVE-2018-20187.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {}
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-23T17:24:36.735851624Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "upstream": [
        "CVE-2018-20187"
      ],
      "references": [
        "https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-20187"
      ]
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2018-20187",
        "evidence": "/upstream"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 416078,
  "published_at": "2019-03-08T19:29:00.25+00:00"
}