CVE-2024-4603 | Excessive time spent checking DSA keys and parameters

Issue summary: Checking excessively long DSA keys or parameters may be very slow. Impact summary: Applications that use the functions EVP_PKEY_param_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check() to check a DSA public key or DSA parameters may experience long delays. Where the key or parameters that are being checked have been obtained from an untrusted source this may lead to a Denial of Service. The functions EVP_PKEY_param_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check() perform various checks on DSA parameters. Some of those computations take a long time if the modulus (`p` parameter) is too large. Trying to use a very large modulus is slow and OpenSSL will not allow using public keys with a modulus which is over 10,000 bits in length for signature verification. However the key and parameter check functions do not limit the modulus size when performing the checks. An application that calls EVP_PKEY_param_check() or EVP_PKEY_public_check() and supplies a key or parameters obtained from an untrusted source could be vulnerable to a Denial of Service attack. These functions are not called by OpenSSL itself on untrusted DSA keys so only applications that directly call these functions may be vulnerable. Also vulnerable are the OpenSSL pkey and pkeyparam command line applications when using the `-check` option. The OpenSSL SSL/TLS implementation is not affected by this issue. The OpenSSL 3.0 and 3.1 FIPS providers are affected by this issue.

Published: 2024-05-16 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2024-4603 is rated Low Risk (29.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.09%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2024-4603

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 2025-11-21 1.05% 0.09% -0.95%
2 2025-11-18 0.08% 1.05% +0.97%
3 2025-06-24 0.08%

Full EPSS history (19 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-4603

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
3.9 1.4 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-4603

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-4603

vendor priority summary link
alpine CVE-2024-4603: 1 source package rows (openssl); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2024-4603
debian unimportant CVE-2024-4603 unimportant 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-2024-4603
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-4603
suse medium CVE-2024-4603 severity moderate: SUSE including 463 source package names (0.0.17-1.1:libopenssl3-3.1.4-150600.5.7.1, 0.0.17-1.1:openssl-3-3.1.4-150600.5.7.1, …), 1070 product×package rows across 199 product lines (Container bci/dotnet-aspnet, Container bci/dotnet-runtime, … (199 product lines)): Fixed 435, Known Not Affected 404, Known Affected 231. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-4603/
ubuntu low CVE-2024-4603 low priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (edk2, nodejs, openssl, openssl-fips, openssl1.0), 49 status rows across 11 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 20, DNE 13, needs-triage 8, released 6, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-4603

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-4603

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2024-4603

cvelogic Threat Intelligence