CVE-2019-18222
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1...
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
CVE-2019-18222- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 1.9 Low
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-203
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
CVE-2019-18222- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2019-8022 No score
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
EUVD-2019-8022- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-fpgh-hvp5-cqc2
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1...
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
GHSA-fpgh-hvp5-cqc2- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200, CWE-203
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVALPINE-CVE-2019-18222
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
ALPINE-CVE-2019-18222- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
CVE-2019-18222- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 4 moreShow less
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2019-18222
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2019-18222- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVJLSEC-2025-199
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1...
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
JLSEC-2025-199- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 1.9 Low
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2019-18222
4.7
The ECDSA signature implementation in ecdsa.c in Arm Mbed Crypto 2.1 and Mbed TLS through 2.19.1 does not reduce the blinded scalar before computing the inverse, which allows a local attacker to recover the private key via side-channel attacks.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2019-18222- CVSS 3.1
- 4.7 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2020-0053 No score
Updated mbedtls packages fix security vulnerabilities
This update from mbedTLS 2.16.2 to mbedTLS 2.16.4 fixes several security vulnerabilities, among which:
The deterministic ECDSA calculation reused the scheme's HMAC-DRBG to implement blinding. Because of this for the same key and message the same blinding value was generated. This reduced the effectiveness of the countermeasure and leaked information about the private key through side channels (CVE-2019-16910).
Fix side channel vulnerability in ECDSA. Our bignum implementation is not constant time/constant trace, so side channel attacks can retrieve the blinded value, factor it (as it is smaller than RSA keys and not guaranteed to have only large prime factors), and then, by brute force, recover the key (CVE-2019-18222).
See release notes for details.
- Record
MGASA-2020-0053- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.10 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.11 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.12 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.13 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.14 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.15 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.16 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.17 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.18 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.19 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
Show 13 moreShow less
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.20 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.21 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.22 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.23 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsAlpine:v3.24 |
before 2.16.4-r0 | 2.16.4-r0 |
mbedtlsDebian:12 |
before 2.16.4-1 | 2.16.4-1 |
mbedtlsDebian:13 |
before 2.16.4-1 | 2.16.4-1 |
mbedtlsDebian:14 |
before 2.16.4-1 | 2.16.4-1 |
mbedtlsDebian:10 From an advisory covering 18 CVEs |
before 2.16.9-0~deb10u1, plus listed versions 2.16.0-12.16.2-12.16.3-12.16.4-12.16.5-1 |
2.16.9-0~deb10u1 |
MbedTLS_jllJulia |
before 2.16.6+0 | 2.16.6+0 |
mbedtlsMageia:7 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 2.16.4-1.mga7 | 2.16.4-1.mga7 |
mbedtlsUbuntu:16.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 2.1.2-12.2.0-12.2.1-12.2.1-22.2.1-2ubuntu0.12.2.1-2ubuntu0.22.2.1-2ubuntu0.3 |
None known |
mbedtlsUbuntu:Pro:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 2.5.1-1ubuntu12.6.0-12.7.0-22.8.0-12.8.0-1ubuntu0.1~esm1 |
None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2019-18222 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.7) in Arm Mbed Crypto, published January 23, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.34%, the 27th percentile. Fixed in mbedtls 2.16.4-r0.
References
tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/security-advisories
tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/security-advisories/mbedtls-security-advisory-2019-12
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/NGDACU65MYZXXVPQP2EBHUJGOR4RWLVY
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/A3GWQNONS7GRORXZJ7MOJFUEJ2ZJ4OUW
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00036.html
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-18222
Show 12 moreShow less
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/A3GWQNONS7GRORXZJ7MOJFUEJ2ZJ4OUW
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/NGDACU65MYZXXVPQP2EBHUJGOR4RWLVY
github.com/advisories/GHSA-fpgh-hvp5-cqc2
security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2019-18222
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-18222
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2020-0053.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25952
tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/releases/mbedtls-2.16.3-and-2.7.12-released
tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/releases/mbedtls-2.16.4-and-2.7.13-released
tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/security-advisories/mbedtls-security-advisory-2019-10
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-18222
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-18222