CVE-2017-13098 | BouncyCastle JCE TLS Bleichenbacher/ROBOT

BouncyCastle TLS prior to version 1.0.3, when configured to use the JCE (Java Cryptography Extension) for cryptographic functions, provides a weak Bleichenbacher oracle when any TLS cipher suite using RSA key exchange is negotiated. An attacker can recover the private key from a vulnerable application. This vulnerability is referred to as "ROBOT."

Published: 2017-12-13 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-13098 is rated High Risk (66.4/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 68.14%, 99th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +1.91% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-13098

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-28 66.23% 68.14% +1.91%
2 2026-03-04 60.39% 66.23% +5.85%
3 2026-03-01 — 60.39% —

Full EPSS history (44 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-13098

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.9 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-13098

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2017-13098

GHSA-wrwf-pmmj-w989 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: maven — Observable Discrepancy in BouncyCastle

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-13098

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-13098 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (bouncycastle), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-13098
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-13098
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-13098 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (bouncycastle), 6 status rows across 6 suites (artful, bionic, trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): ignored 2, not-affected 2, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-13098

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-13098

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
bouncycastle bc-java < 1.59 cpe:2.3:a:bouncycastle:bc-java:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-13098

cvelogic Threat Intelligence