Description
A message-forgery issue was discovered in crypto/openpgp/clearsign/clearsign.go in supplementary Go cryptography libraries 2019-03-25. According to the OpenPGP Message Format specification in RFC 4880 chapter 7, a cleartext signed message can contain one or more optional "Hash" Armor Headers. The "Hash" Armor Header specifies the message digest algorithm(s) used for the signature. However, the Go clearsign package ignores the value of this header, which allows an attacker to spoof it. Consequently, an attacker can lead a victim to believe the signature was generated using a different message digest algorithm than what was actually used. Moreover, since the library skips Armor Header parsing in general, an attacker can not only embed arbitrary Armor Headers, but also prepend arbitrary text to cleartext messages without invalidating the signatures.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | golang-go.crypto | 1:0.0~git20200221.2aa609c-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | golang-go.crypto | 1:0.0~git20200221.2aa609c-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | golang-go.crypto | 1:0.0~git20200221.2aa609c-1 | — |
| Debian 10 | golang-go.crypto | 1:0.0~git20181203.505ab14-1+deb10u1 | DLA-3455-1 |
| Debian 9 | golang-go.crypto | 1:0.0~git20170407.0.55a552f+REALLY.0.0~git20161012.0.5f31782-1+deb8u1 | DLA-2402-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 8 | golang-go.crypto | 0.0~hg190-1+deb8u2 | DLA-1920-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | golang-go.crypto | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | golang-go.crypto | No fix yet | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | k3d +2 | 5.6.0-r11 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | golang.org/x/crypto | < 0.0.0-20190424203555-c05e17bb3b2d | 0.0.0-20190424203555-c05e17bb3b2d | GHSA-x3jr-pf6g-c48f |
Advisories 4
- WID-SEC-2022-0510 IBM DB2: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · May 18, 2026
- DLA-3455-1 golang-go.crypto - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DLA-2402-1 golang-go.crypto - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- DLA-1920-1 golang-go.crypto - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- https://sec-consult.com/
- https://go.googlesource.com/crypto/
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152840/Go-Cryptography-Libraries-Cleartext-Message-Spoofing.html
- https://sec-consult.com/en/blog/advisories/cleartext-message-spoofing-in-go-cryptography-libraries-cve-2019-11841/
- [debian-lts-announce] 20190913 [SECURITY] [DLA 1920-1] golang-go.crypto security update mailing-list
- [debian-lts-announce] 20201007 [SECURITY] [DLA 2402-1] golang-go.crypto security update mailing-list
- [debian-lts-announce] 20230616 [SECURITY] [DLA 3455-1] golang-go.crypto security update mailing-list