CVE-2025-22866 Timing sidechannel for P-256 on ppc64le in crypto/internal/nistec
Timing side-channel in Go's P-256 implementation on ppc64le leaks secret scalar bits, potentially exposing partial private key information.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-22866?
CVE-2025-22866 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Go standard library crypto/internal/nistec, published on 6 Feb 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Due to the usage of a variable time instruction in the assembly implementation of an internal function, a small number of bits of secret scalars are leaked on the ppc64le architecture. Due to the way this function is used, we do not believe this leakage is enough to allow recovery of the private key when P-256 is used in any well known protocols.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-22866?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including golang and stdlib.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
golang Bitnami | All versions | 1.22.12, 1.23.6, 1.24.0 |
stdlib Go | All versions | 1.22.12, 1.23.6, 1.24.0-rc.3 |
Linux distribution packages (6)
go1.22 SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | All versions | 1.22.12-150000.1.42.1 |
go1.23 SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 | All versions | 1.23.6-150000.1.21.1 |
go1.22 openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | All versions | 1.22.12-150000.1.42.1 |
go1.23 openSUSE:Leap 15.6 | All versions | 1.23.6-150000.1.21.1 |
go1.22 openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 1.22.12-1.1 |
go1.23 openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 1.23.6-1.1 |
How do I fix CVE-2025-22866?
Upgrade golang to a fixed version for your release line: 1.22.12, 1.23.6 or 1.24.0.
Is CVE-2025-22866 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-22866 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BIT-golang-2025-22866, CLEANSTART-2026-JE88659, CLEANSTART-2026-PR48367, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-22866, ECHO-2ad3-2ee4-a992, GHSA-3whm-j4xm-rv8x and 29 more.