Summary
Breaking unlinkability in Identity Mixer using malicious keys
CL Signatures Issuer Key Correctness Proof lacks of prime strength checking
A weakness in the Hyperledger AnonCreds specification that is not mitigated in the Ursa and AnonCreds implementations is that the Issuer does not publish a key correctness proof demonstrating that a generated private key is sufficient to meet the unlinkability guarantees of AnonCreds. A sufficient private key is one in which it's components p and q are safe primes, such that:
pandqare both prime numberspandqare not equalpandqhave the same, sufficiently large, size- For example, using two values both 1024 bits long is sufficient, whereas using one value 2040 bits long and the other 8 bits long is not.
The Ursa and AnonCreds CL-Signatures implementations always generate a sufficient private key. A malicious issuer could in theory create a custom CL Signature implementation (derived from the Ursa or AnonCreds CL-Signatures implementations) that uses weakened private keys such that presentations from holders could be shared by verifiers to the issuer who could determine the holder to which the credential was issued.
Mitigations
Jan Camenisch and Markus Michels. Proving in zero-knowledge that a number is the product of two safe primes (pages 12-13) demonstrates a key correctness proof that could be used to show the issuer has generated a sufficiently strong private key, proving the characteristics listed above.
In a future version of AnonCreds, the additional key correctness proof could be published separately or added to the Credential Definition. In the meantime, Issuers in existing ecosystems can share such a proof with their ecosystem co-participants in an ad hoc manner.
The lack of such a published key correctness proof allows a malicious Issuer to deliberately generate a private key that lacks the requirements listed above, enabling the Issuer to perform a brute force attack on presentations provided to colluding verifiers that breaks the unlinkability guarantee of AnonCreds.
Impact
This vulnerability could impact holders of AnonCreds credentials implemented using the CL-signature scheme in the Ursa and AnonCreds implementations of CL Signatures.
CVE-2022-31021 has a CVSS score of 3.3 (Low). The vector is requires local access, no privileges required, and user interaction required. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2022-31021? CVE-2022-31021 is a low-severity security vulnerability in anoncreds-clsignatures (rust), affecting versions < 0.3. No fixed version is listed yet.
- How severe is CVE-2022-31021? CVE-2022-31021 has a CVSS score of 3.3 (Low). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-31021?
anoncreds-clsignatures(rust) (versions < 0.3)ursa(rust) (versions <= 0.3.7)
- Is there a fix for CVE-2022-31021? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2022-31021 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2022-31021 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-31021 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2022-31021 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.