CVE-2024-53856

rPGP Panics on Malformed Untrusted Input

During a security audit, Radically Open Security discovered several reachable edge cases which allow an attacker to trigger rpgp crashes by providing crafted data.

Versions and Patches

All recent versions are affected by at least some of the above mentioned issues.

The vulnerabilities have been fixed with version 0.14.1. We recommend all users to upgrade to this version.

References

The security audit was made possible by the NLnet Foundation NGI Zero Core grant program for rpgp.

When processing malformed input, rpgp can run into Rust panics which halt the program.

This can happen in the following scenarios:

• Parsing OpenPGP messages from binary or armor format
• Decrypting OpenPGP messages via decrypt_with_password()
• Parsing or converting public keys
• Parsing signed cleartext messages from armor format
• Using malformed private keys to sign or encrypt

Given the affected components, we consider most attack vectors to be reachable by remote attackers during typical use cases of the rpgp library. The attack complexity is low since the malformed messages are generic, short, and require no victim-specific knowledge.

The result is a denial-of-service impact via program termination. There is no impact to confidentiality or integrity security properties.

CVE-2024-53856 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). The vector is network-reachable, no privileges required, and no user interaction. 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. A fixed version is available (0.14.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

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1. What is CVE-2024-53856? CVE-2024-53856 is a high-severity security vulnerability in pgp (rust), affecting versions < 0.14.1. It is fixed in 0.14.1.
2. How severe is CVE-2024-53856? CVE-2024-53856 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (High). 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.
3. Which versions of pgp are affected by CVE-2024-53856? pgp (rust) versions < 0.14.1 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2024-53856? Yes. CVE-2024-53856 is fixed in 0.14.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2024-53856 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-53856 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2024-53856 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2024-53856? Upgrade pgp to 0.14.1 or later.

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