# CVE-2017-3738: Information disclosure in OpenSSL

> An overflow in OpenSSL's AVX2 Montgomery multiplication may allow attackers to deduce private keys from Diffie-Hellman exchanges, impacting cryptographic security.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:** 7 Dec 2017
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2017-3738, DEBIAN-CVE-2017-3738, GHSA-gj3m-w8pf-46c5, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-3738

## What is CVE-2017-3738?

CVE-2017-3738 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 7 Dec 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

There is an overflow bug in the AVX2 Montgomery multiplication procedure used in exponentiation with 1024-bit moduli. No EC algorithms are affected. Analysis suggests that attacks against RSA and DSA as a result of this defect would be very difficult to perform and are not believed likely. Attacks against DH1024 are considered just feasible, because most of the work necessary to deduce information about a private key may be performed offline. The amount of resources required for such an attack would be significant. However, for an attack on TLS to be meaningful, the server would have to share the DH1024 private key among multiple clients, which is no longer an option since CVE-2016-0701. This only affects processors that support the AVX2 but not ADX extensions like Intel Haswell (4th generation). Note: The impact from this issue is similar to CVE-2017-3736, CVE-2017-3732 and CVE-2015-3193. OpenSSL version 1.0.2-1.0.2m and 1.1.0-1.1.0g are affected. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2n. Due to the low severity of this issue we are not issuing a new release of OpenSSL 1.1.0 at this time. The fix will be included in OpenSSL 1.1.0h when it becomes available. The fix is also available in commit e502cc86d in the OpenSSL git repository.

Weakness: CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-3738?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Nodejs Node.js, Openssl Openssl.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-3738?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-3738 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-3738 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-3738 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-3738 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 7 Dec 2017. 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-2017-3738 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2017-3738/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3738/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-3738
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-3738
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-3738

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3738/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.