# CVE-2018-12438: Information disclosure in n/a

> Attackers with local or co-located VM access can recover ECDSA private keys via memory-cache side-channel attacks in the Java sunec library.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Jun 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6xrq-423r-vrcg

## What is CVE-2018-12438?

CVE-2018-12438 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 15 Jun 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Elliptic Curve Cryptography library (aka sunec or libsunec) allows a memory-cache side-channel attack on ECDSA signatures, aka the Return Of the Hidden Number Problem or ROHNP. To discover an ECDSA key, the attacker needs access to either the local machine or a different virtual machine on the same physical host.

Weakness: CWE-320, CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-12438?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Libsunec Project Libsunec.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-12438?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-12438 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-12438 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-12438 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-12438 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 15 Jun 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2018-12438/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12438/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-12438
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12438
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-12438

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12438/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.