CVE-2023-52323 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-203 vulnerability in pycryptodomex. A fix is available for pycryptodomex — see the affected versions and patch details below.
PyCryptodome and pycryptodomex side-channel leakage for OAEP decryption
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-52323.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-52323 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
pycryptodomex🐍pycryptodomeReal-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
PyCryptodome and pycryptodomex before 3.19.1 allow side-channel leakage for OAEP decryption, exploitable for a Manger attack.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | pycryptodomex | all versions | 3.19.1pip install --upgrade 'pycryptodomex==3.19.1' |
| 🐍PyPI | pycryptodome | all versions | 3.19.1pip install --upgrade 'pycryptodome==3.19.1' |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for pycryptodomex, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update pycryptodomex to 3.19.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-52323 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-52323 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-52323. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
Red Hat Satellite ship affected version of pycryptodome for pulp_container, however, product is not vulnerable as it doesn't utilize OAEP algorithm technique. Red Hat Product Security has classified its impact as Low for Red Hat Satellite; future updates expected to address this issue. Red Hat OpenStack 16.1 and 16.2…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 for RHEL 8 | python3x-pycryptodomex-0:3.20.0-1.el8ap | RHSA-2024:1057 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | fence-agents-0:4.2.1-129.el8 | RHSA-2024:2968 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | resource-agents-0:4.9.0-54.el8 | RHSA-2024:2952 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support | fence-agents-0:4.2.1-65.el8_4.14 | RHBA-2024:1398 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Extended Update Support | fence-agents-0:4.2.1-89.el8_6.11 | RHBA-2024:1114 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | fence-agents-0:4.10.0-55.el9_3.3 | RHBA-2024:1137 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | fence-agents-0:4.10.0-62.el9 | RHSA-2024:2132 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Extended Update Support | fence-agents-0:4.10.0-20.el9_0.11 | RHSA-2024:1155 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-52323 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-52323 across PyPI dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.