There is a carry propagation bug in the MIPS32 and MIPS64 squaring procedure. Many EC algorithms are affected, including some of the TLS 1.3 default curves. Impact was not analyzed in detail, because the pre-requisites for attack are considered unlikely and include reusing private keys. Analysis suggests that attacks against RSA and DSA as a result of this defect would be very difficult to perform and are not believed likely. Attacks against DH are considered just feasible (although very difficult) because most of the work necessary to deduce information about a private key may be performed offline. The amount of resources required for such an attack would be significant. However, for an attack on TLS to be meaningful, the server would have to share the DH private key among multiple clients, which is no longer an option since CVE-2016-0701. This issue affects OpenSSL versions 1.0.2, 1.1.1 and 3.0.0. It was addressed in the releases of 1.1.1m and 3.0.1 on the 15th of December 2021. For the 1.0.2 release it is addressed in git commit 6fc1aaaf3 that is available to premium support customers only. It will be made available in 1.0.2zc when it is released. The issue only affects OpenSSL on MIPS platforms. Fixed in OpenSSL 3.0.1 (Affected 3.0.0). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1m (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1l). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2zc-dev (Affected 1.0.2-1.0.2zb).
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-4160 is rated Moderate Risk (58/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.80%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +3.39% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 2026-06-15 | 0.42% | 3.80% | +3.39% |
| 2 | 2026-04-20 | 0.30% | 0.42% | +0.12% |
| 3 | 2025-12-28 | — | 0.30% | — |
Full EPSS history (25 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.9 | 3.1 | MEDIUM |
|
2.2 | 3.6 | [email protected] |
| 4.3 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
8.6 | 2.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2021-4160 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (openssl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-4160 |
gentoo
|
normal | CVE-2021-4160: 1 GLSA(s) (202210-02), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/openssl); latest impact normal. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-4160 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4160 |
suse
|
medium | CVE-2021-4160 severity moderate: SUSE including 19 source package names (compat-openssl098, libopenssl-1_0_0-devel, …), 237 product×package rows across 39 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (39 product lines)): Known Not Affected 237. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-4160/ |
ubuntu
|
low | CVE-2021-4160 low priority: Ubuntu including 4 source packages (edk2, nodejs, openssl, openssl1.0), 56 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, focal, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 38, DNE 13, needs-triage 4, needed 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-4160 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| openssl | openssl | >= 1.0.2, <= 1.0.2zb | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | >= 1.1.1, < 1.1.1m | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha10:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha11:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha12:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha13:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha14:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha15:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha16:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha17:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha4:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha5:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha6:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha7:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha8:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:alpha9:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| openssl | openssl | 3.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:3.0.0:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 9.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 10.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 11.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | health_sciences_inform_publisher | 6.2.1.1 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:health_sciences_inform_publisher:6.2.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | health_sciences_inform_publisher | 6.3.1.1 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:health_sciences_inform_publisher:6.3.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | jd_edwards_enterpriseone_tools | 9.2.6.3 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:jd_edwards_enterpriseone_tools:9.2.6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | jd_edwards_world_security | a9.4 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:jd_edwards_world_security:a9.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | peoplesoft_enterprise_peopletools | 8.58 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:peoplesoft_enterprise_peopletools:8.58:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | peoplesoft_enterprise_peopletools | 8.59 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:peoplesoft_enterprise_peopletools:8.59:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| siemens | sinec_ins | < 1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:siemens:sinec_ins:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| siemens | sinec_ins | 1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:siemens:sinec_ins:1.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| siemens | sinec_ins | 1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:siemens:sinec_ins:1.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| oracle | enterprise_manager_ops_center | 12.4.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:oracle:enterprise_manager_ops_center:12.4.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |