CVE-2024-30171 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.9) CWE-203 vulnerability in org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips. A fix is available for org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Bouncy Castle affected by timing side-channel for RSA key exchange ("The Marvin Attack")
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-2024-30171.
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-2024-30171 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 378,567 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
org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk18on☕org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk15to18+2 moreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
An issue was discovered in Bouncy Castle Java TLS API and JSSE Provider before 1.78. Timing-based leakage may occur in RSA based handshakes because of exception processing.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips | all versions | 1.0.19org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips:1.0.19 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on | all versions | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on | all versions | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 | all versions | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 | all versions | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk18on | all versions | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk18on:1.78 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.bouncycastle:bctls-fips to 1.0.19 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-30171 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-2024-30171 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-30171. 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.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Cryostat 3 on RHEL 8 | cryostat-tech-preview/cryostat-db-rhel8:3.0.0-3 | RHSA-2024:4173 |
| Red Hat AMQ Broker 7 | org.bouncycastle-bcprov-jdk18on | RHSA-2024:4271 |
| Red Hat build of Apache Camel 4.4.1 for Spring Boot 3.2 | org.bouncycastle-bcprov-jdk18on | RHSA-2024:4884 |
| Red Hat Build of Apache Camel 4.4 for Quarkus 3.8 | see advisory | RHSA-2024:4505 |
| Red Hat build of Quarkus 3.8.5.redhat | org.bouncycastle/bcprov-jdk18on:1.78.1.redhat-00002 | RHSA-2024:4326 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform | org.bouncycastle/bcprov-jdk18on:1.78.1.redhat-00002 | RHSA-2024:5147 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 8 | eap7-bouncycastle-0:1.78.1-1.redhat_00002.1.el8eap | RHSA-2024:5144 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 for RHEL 9 | eap7-bouncycastle-0:1.78.1-1.redhat_00002.1.el9eap | RHSA-2024:5145 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-30171 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-30171 across Maven, NuGet dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.