GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9
MEDIUMBouncy Castle For Java LDAP injection vulnerability
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.
Blast Radius
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14☕org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18+4 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
Bouncy Castle provides the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class which can be used in conjunction with the CertPath API for validating certificate paths. Pre-1.73 the implementation did not check the X.500 name of any certificate, subject, or issuer being passed in for LDAP wild cards, meaning the presence of a wild car may lead to Information Disclosure.
A potential attack would be to generate a self-signed certificate with a subject name that contains special characters, e.g: CN=Subject*)(objectclass=. This will be included into the filter and provides the attacker ability to specify additional attributes in the search query. This can be exploited as a blind LDAP injection: an attacker can enumerate valid attribute values using the boolean blind injection technique. The exploitation depends on the structure of the target LDAP directory, as well as what kind of errors are exposed to the user.
Changes to the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class add the additional checking of any X.500 name used to correctly escape wild card characters.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on | all versions | 1.74 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 | all versions | 1.74 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 | ≥ 1.49&&< 1.74 | 1.74 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14 | ≥ 1.49&&< 1.74 | 1.74 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18 | all versions | 1.74 |
| ☕Maven | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on | all versions | 1.74 |
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. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on to 1.74 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.