CVE-2024-30172 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) vulnerability in org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on. A fix is available for org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Bouncy Castle crafted signature and public key can be used to trigger an infinite loop
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-2024-30172.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk18on☕org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk15to18.NETBouncyCastle.NETBouncyCastle.CryptographyReal-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 Cryptography APIs starting in 1.73 and before 1.78. An Ed25519 verification code infinite loop can occur via a crafted signature and public key.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on | ≥ 1.73&&< 1.78 | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 | ≥ 1.73&&< 1.78 | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 | ≥ 1.73&&< 1.78 | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk18on | ≥ 1.73&&< 1.78 | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk18on:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk14 | ≥ 1.73&&< 1.78 | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk14:1.78 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk15to18 | ≥ 1.73&&< 1.78 | 1.78org.bouncycastle:bctls-jdk15to18:1.78 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on to 1.78 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-30172 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
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.
Moderate impact. Red Hat products that include the org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on component are affected by an unauthenticated network attack in which a crafted Ed25519 signature and public key can trigger an infinite loop during verification, resulting in denial of service. The current record marks 17 of 20 product…
Upgrade affected Red Hat products to a vendor-provided update containing the corrected Bouncy Castle component (1.78 or later). Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2024-30172 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on | 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 |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.4 on RHEL 7 | eap7-bouncycastle-0:1.78.1-1.redhat_00002.1.el7eap | RHSA-2024:5143 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-30172 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, NuGet, including transitive dependencies.