# CVE-2009-1603: Weak cryptography in n/a

> OpenSC pkcs11-tool generates RSA keys with incorrect public exponents, allowing attackers to decrypt intended secure messages.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 May 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2009-1603, GHSA-8772-675x-8fvx

## What is CVE-2009-1603?

CVE-2009-1603 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 11 May 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

src/tools/pkcs11-tool.c in pkcs11-tool in OpenSC 0.11.7, when used with unspecified third-party PKCS#11 modules, generates RSA keys with incorrect public exponents, which allows attackers to read the cleartext form of messages that were intended to be encrypted.

Weakness: CWE-312 (Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-1603?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Opensc-Project Opensc.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-1603?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2009-1603 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-1603 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-1603 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-1603 is a high-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 11 May 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-1603 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1603/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1603/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-1603
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-1603
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-1603

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1603/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.