CVE-2025-9231 (CVSS 6.5)

Description

Issue summary: A timing side-channel which could potentially allow remote recovery of the private key exists in the SM2 algorithm implementation on 64 bit ARM platforms. Impact summary: A timing side-channel in SM2 signature computations on 64 bit ARM platforms could allow recovering the private key by an attacker.. While remote key recovery over a network was not attempted by the reporter, timing measurements revealed a timing signal which may allow such an attack. OpenSSL does not directly support certificates with SM2 keys in TLS, and so this CVE is not relevant in most TLS contexts. However, given that it is possible to add support for such certificates via a custom provider, coupled with the fact that in such a custom provider context the private key may be recoverable via remote timing measurements, we consider this to be a Moderate severity issue. The FIPS modules in 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as SM2 is not an approved algorithm.

Is your site exposed to CVE-2025-9231?

Run a free security scan — no signup, results in seconds.

CVSS v3.1 Score

6.5

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-385 CWE-385

References

Other References

https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/567f64386e43683888212226824b6a179885a0fe https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/cba616c26ac8e7b37de5e77762e505ba5ca51698 https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/eed5adc9f969d77c94f213767acbb41ff923b6f4 https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/fc47a2ec078912b3e914fab5734535e76c4820c2 https://openssl-library.org/news/secadv/20250930.txt http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/09/30/5 http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/05/11/11 https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-032379.html https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-089022.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-9231? +

Issue summary: A timing side-channel which could potentially allow remote recovery of the private key exists in the SM2 algorithm implementation on 64 bit ARM platforms. Impact summary: A timing side-channel in SM2 signature computations on 64 bit ARM platforms could allow recovering the private key by an attacker.. While remote key recovery over a network was not attempted by the reporter, timing measurements revealed a timing signal which may allow such an attack. OpenSSL does not directly support certificates with SM2 keys in TLS, and so this CVE is not relevant in most TLS contexts. However, given that it is possible to add support for such certificates via a custom provider, coupled with the fact that in such a custom provider context the private key may be recoverable via remote timing measurements, we consider this to be a Moderate severity issue. The FIPS modules in 3.5, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, 3.1 and 3.0 are not affected by this issue, as SM2 is not an approved algorithm. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2025-9231? +

CVE-2025-9231 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2025-9231? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2025-59432

SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) is part of the family of Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL, RFC 4422) …

CVE-2024-11862

Non constant time cryptographic operation in Devolutions.XTS.NET 2024.11.19 and earlier allows an attacker to render half of the encryption key …

CVE-2025-29780

Post-Quantum Secure Feldman's Verifiable Secret Sharing provides a Python implementation of Feldman's Verifiable Secret Sharing (VSS) scheme. In versions 0.8.0b2 …

CVE-2025-53826 9.8

File Browser provides a file managing interface within a specified directory and it can be used to upload, delete, preview, …

CVE-2025-59425 7.5

vLLM is an inference and serving engine for large language models (LLMs). Before version 0.11.0rc2, the API key support in …

CVE-2025-0306 7.4

A vulnerability was found in Ruby. The Ruby interpreter is vulnerable to the Marvin Attack. This attack allows the attacker …

CVE-2025-9231