# CVE-2021-24116: Information disclosure in n/a

> Administrators can extract secret RSA keys from wolfSSL via side-channel attacks on base64 PEM decoding in isolated environments like Intel SGX.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Jul 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2021-24116, GHSA-jh62-5q2g-qjmx, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-24116

## What is CVE-2021-24116?

CVE-2021-24116 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Wolfssl Wolfssl, published on 14 Jul 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In wolfSSL through 4.6.0, a side-channel vulnerability in base64 PEM file decoding allows system-level (administrator) attackers to obtain information about secret RSA keys via a controlled-channel and side-channel attack on software running in isolated environments that can be single stepped, especially Intel SGX.

Weakness: CWE-203 (Observable Discrepancy)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-24116?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Wolfssl Wolfssl.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-24116?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2021-24116 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-24116 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Wolfssl Wolfssl

- [CVE-2024-5991](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-5991/): Buffer overread in domain name matching (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2021-37155](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-37155/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-36177](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36177/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-2896](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-2896/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-2897](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-2897/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-24116 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-24116 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Wolfssl Wolfssl, published on 14 Jul 2021. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-24116 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Wolfssl Wolfssl. 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-2021-24116/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-24116/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24116
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24116
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-24116

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-24116/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.