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🐍 PyPI
Not in CISA KEV
HIGH severity

CVE-2018-6594 — pycrypto

HIGH

CVE-2018-6594 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-326 vulnerability in pycrypto. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. The records list no fixed version yet; check the vendor advisory below and apply the mitigations in the meantime.

Pycrypto generates weak key parameters

Also known asGHSA-6528-wvf6-f6qgPYSEC-2018-97
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
See advisory
Exploits
1 known
Exploitation data as of Oct 24, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
2.0%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk0.00%
Lower risk than most CVEs81th percentile — riskier than 81% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.30%1.07%1.84%2.61%0.8%2.0%Apr 26Aug 26Oct 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐍pycrypto

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal.py in PyCrypto through 2.6.1 generates weak ElGamal key parameters, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext data (i.e., it does not have semantic security in face of a ciphertext-only attack). The Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption does not hold for PyCrypto's ElGamal implementation.

Affected Packages

1 total
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐍PyPIpycryptoall versionsNo fix

Affected Products

3 products · 6 configurations
OS
ubuntu linuxcanonical
4 versions
12.0414.0416.0417.10
OS
debian linuxdebian
1 version
7.0
Application
pycryptodlitz
≤ 2.6.1
range
Exploits & PoCs
1

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal.py in PyCrypto through 2.6.1 generates weak…

github.comNVDJul 2020

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pycrypto, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Remediation status

    The records we use list no patched version of pycrypto for CVE-2018-6594. Check the maintainer's advisory, and where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range.

  3. Mitigate without a patch

    If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

lib/Crypto/PublicKey/ElGamal.py in PyCrypto through 2.6.1 generates weak ElGamal key parameters, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading ciphertext data (i.e., it does not have semantic security in face of a ciphertext-only attack). The Decisional Diffie-Hellman (DDH) assumption does not hold for PyCrypto's ElGamal implementation.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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CVE-2018-6594: pycrypto Info Disclosure (High 7.5)