CVE-2025-52473
Liboqs HQC Key Encapsulation Mechanism Secret-Dependent Branch Vulnerability
Description
liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Multiple secret-dependent branches have been identified in the reference implementation of the HQC key encapsulation mechanism when it is compiled with Clang for optimization levels above -O0 (-O1, -O2, etc). A proof-of-concept local attack exploits this secret-dependent information to recover the entire secret key. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.14.0.
INFO
Published Date :
July 10, 2025, 7:15 p.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 22, 2025, 5:04 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] |
Solution
- Update the affected packages.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2025-52473.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-52473 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-52473
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2025-52473 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2025-52473 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
Initial Analysis by [email protected]
Aug. 22, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Added CWE NVD-CWE-noinfo Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:openquantumsafe:liboqs:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 0.14.0 Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/commit/4215362acbf69b88fe1777c4c052f154e29f9897 Types: Patch Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/security/advisories/GHSA-qq3m-rq9v-jfgm Types: Vendor Advisory -
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Jul. 10, 2025
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Description liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Multiple secret-dependent branches have been identified in the reference implementation of the HQC key encapsulation mechanism when it is compiled with Clang for optimization levels above -O0 (-O1, -O2, etc). A proof-of-concept local attack exploits this secret-dependent information to recover the entire secret key. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.14.0. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Added CWE CWE-200 Added Reference https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/commit/4215362acbf69b88fe1777c4c052f154e29f9897 Added Reference https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs/security/advisories/GHSA-qq3m-rq9v-jfgm