CVE-2017-2801
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1...
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
6.5
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2017-2801- CVSS 3.0
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2017-11944
6.5
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
- Record
EUVD-2017-11944- CVSS 3.0
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-x8qg-whhh-m3ph
9.8
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1...
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
- Record
GHSA-x8qg-whhh-m3ph- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-125
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
6.5
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2017-2801- CVSS 3.0
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L - CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-125
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
9.8
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
- Record
CVE-2017-2801- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2017-2801
6.5
A programming error exists in a way Randombit Botan cryptographic library version 2.0.1 implements x500 string comparisons which could lead to certificate verification issues and abuse. A specially crafted X509 certificate would need to be delivered to the client or server application in order to trigger this vulnerability.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2017-2801- CVSS 3.0
- 6.5 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L - CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 4 moreShow less
OSVMGASA-2017-0321 No score
Updated botan packages fix security vulnerabilities
While decoding BER length fields, an integer overflow could occur. This could occur while parsing untrusted inputs such as X.509 certificates. The overflow does not seem to lead to any obviously exploitable condition, but exploitation cannot be positively ruled out. Only 32-bit platforms are likely affected; to cause an overflow on 64-bit the parsed data would have to be many gigabytes (CVE-2016-9132).
Aleksandar Nikolic discovered that an error in the x509 parser of the Botan crypto library could result in an out-of-bounds memory read, resulting in denial of service or an information leak if processing a malformed certificate (CVE-2017-2801).
- Record
MGASA-2017-0321- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2017-0327 No score
Updated botan packages fix security vulnerability
Aleksandar Nikolic discovered that an error in the x509 parser of the Botan crypto library could result in an out-of-bounds memory read, resulting in denial of service or an information leak if processing a malformed certificate (CVE-2017-2801).
- Record
MGASA-2017-0327- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10594-1 No score
Botan-2.18.1-1.3 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the Botan-2.18.1-1.3 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10594-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2017:1222-1 No score
Security update for Botan
This update for Botan to version 1.10.9 fixes the following issues:
These security issues were fixed:
- CVE-2015-5726: The BER decoder in Botan 0.10.x allowed remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via an empty BIT STRING in ASN.1 data (bsc#968025).
- CVE-2015-5727: The BER decoder in Botan 1.10.x allowed remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via unspecified vectors, related to a length field (bsc#968026).
- CVE-2015-7827: Botan make it easier for remote attackers to conduct million-message attacks by measuring time differences, related to decoding of PKCS#1 padding (bsc#968030).
- CVE-2016-2849: Botan do not use a constant-time algorithm to perform a modular inverse on the signature nonce k, which might allowed remote attackers to obtain ECDSA secret keys via a timing side-channel attack (bsc#977420).
- CVE-2016-9132: In Botan 1.8.0 when decoding BER data an integer overflow could occur, which would cause an incorrect length field to be computed. Some API callers may use the returned (incorrect and attacker controlled) length field in a way which later caused memory corruption or other failure (bsc#1013209).
- CVE-2016-2194: The ressol function in Botan allowed remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via unspecified input to the OS2ECP function, related to a composite modulus (bsc#965621).
- CVE-2016-2195: Integer overflow in the PointGFp constructor in Botan allowed remote attackers to overwrite memory and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted ECC point, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow (bsc#965620).
- CVE-2017-2801: Incorrect comparison in X.509 DN strings (bsc#1033605).
- CVE-2014-9742: The Miller-Rabin primality check in Botan improperly used a single random base, which made it easier for remote attackers to defeat cryptographic protection mechanisms via a DH group (bsc#974521).
These non-security issues were fixed:
- Fixed EAX tag verification to run in constant time
- The default TLS policy now disables SSLv3.
- A crash could have occured when reading from a blocking random device if the device initially indicated that entropy was available but a concurrent process drained the entropy pool before the read was initiated.
- Fixed decoding indefinite length BER constructs that contain a context sensitive tag of zero.
- The key length limit on HMAC has been raised to 512 bytes, allowing the use of very long passphrases with PBKDF2.
- OAEP had two bugs, one of which allowed it to be used even if the key was too small, and the other of which would cause a crash during decryption if the EME data was too large for the associated key.
- Record
SUSE-SU-2017:1222-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
botan1.10Debian:7 |
before 1.10.5-1+deb7u3, plus listed versions 1.10.5-11.10.5-1+deb7u11.10.5-1+deb7u2 |
1.10.5-1+deb7u3 |
botan1.10Debian:8 |
before 1.10.8-2+deb8u2, plus listed versions 1.10.8-21.10.8-2+deb8u1 |
1.10.8-2+deb8u2 |
botanMageia:5 |
before 1.10.14-1.mga5 | 1.10.14-1.mga5 |
botanMageia:6 |
before 1.10.14-5.1.mga6 | 1.10.14-5.1.mga6 |
BotanSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP1 |
before 1.10.9-3.1 | 1.10.9-3.1 |
BotanSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP2 |
before 1.10.9-3.1 | 1.10.9-3.1 |
botan1.10Ubuntu:Pro:14.04:LTS |
before 1.10.5-1+deb7u1ubuntu0.14.04.1+esm1, plus listed versions 1.10.5-11.10.5-1ubuntu11.10.5-1+deb7u1ubuntu0.14.04.1 |
1.10.5-1+deb7u1ubuntu0.14.04.1+esm1 |
botan1.10Ubuntu:16.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.10.10-61.10.12-1 |
None known |
BotanopenSUSE:Tumbleweed |
before 2.18.1-1.3 | 2.18.1-1.3 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 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-2017-2801 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.5) in Botan Project Botan, published April 25, 2017. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.32%, the 70th percentile. Fixed in botan1.10 1.10.5-1+deb7u3.
References
securityfocus.com/bid/98106
debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3939
talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2017-0294
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-2801
github.com/advisories/GHSA-x8qg-whhh-m3ph
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2017-0321.html
Show 32 moreShow less
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20014
botan.randombit.net/security.html
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/Z2Y3JLMTE3VIV4X5X6SXVZTJBDDLCS3D
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2017-0327.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=21528
suse.com/support/update/announcement/2017/suse-su-20171222-1
bugzilla.suse.com/1013209
bugzilla.suse.com/1033605
bugzilla.suse.com/965620
bugzilla.suse.com/965621
bugzilla.suse.com/968025
bugzilla.suse.com/968026
bugzilla.suse.com/968030
bugzilla.suse.com/974521
bugzilla.suse.com/977420
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-9742
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-5726
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-5727
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-7827
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2194
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2195
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2849
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9132
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-2801
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-2801
github.com/randombit/botan/commit/c927101675e5f63fc0bdd93c5a4825adc54323b4
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-2801
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-14737
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-12435
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-20187
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-9127
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-9860