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Weakness (CWE)

CWE-338: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)

Base Draft

The product uses a Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) in a security context, but the PRNG's algorithm is not cryptographically strong.

More detail

When a non-cryptographic PRNG is used in a cryptographic context, it can expose the cryptography to certain types of attacks.

Often a pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) is not designed for cryptography. Sometimes a mediocre source of randomness is sufficient or preferable for algorithms that use random numbers. Weak generators generally take less processing power and/or do not use the precious, finite, entropy sources on a system. While such PRNGs might have very useful features, these same features could be used to break the cryptography.

How to prevent it (1 mitigation)

  1. Implementation

    Use functions or hardware which use a hardware-based random number generation for all crypto. This is the recommended solution. Use CyptGenRandom on Windows, or hw_rand() on Linux.

Source: MITRE CWE-338

All Critical High Medium Low Exploited only Public exploit

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    NodeBB Forum Software is powered by Node.js and supports either Redis, MongoDB, or a PostgreSQL database. It utilizes web sockets for instant interactions and real-time notifications. `utils.generateUUID`, a helper function available in essentially all versio…

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    A flaw was found in github.com/satori/go.uuid in versions from commit 0ef6afb2f6cdd6cdaeee3885a95099c63f18fc8c to d91630c8510268e75203009fe7daf2b8e1d60c45. Due to insecure randomness in the g.rand.Read function the generated UUIDs are predictable for an attac…

    github.com/satori/go.uuid Go
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    CVE-2019-16303

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    A class generated by the Generator in JHipster before 6.3.0 and JHipster Kotlin through 1.1.0 produces code that uses an insecure source of randomness (apache.commons.lang3 RandomStringUtils). This allows an attacker (if able to obtain their own password rese…

    generator-jhipster-kotlin npm
  • Critical 9.1
    CVE-2018-16115

    Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG) in akka-actor

    Lightbend Akka 2.5.x before 2.5.16 allows message disclosure and modification because of an RNG error. A random number generator is used in Akka Remoting for TLS (both classic and Artery Remoting). Akka allows configuration of custom random number generators.…

    com.typesafe.akka:akka-actor_2.11 com.typesafe.akka:akka-actor_2.12 Maven