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OpenAdvisories
Unscored CVE-2019-1543 EUVD-2019-10100GHSA-qpgr-gj53-5m6w

ChaCha20-Poly1305 with long nonces

Published Mar 6, 2019 · Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Assigned by openssl

Description

ChaCha20-Poly1305 is an AEAD cipher, and requires a unique nonce input for every encryption operation. RFC 7539 specifies that the nonce value (IV) should be 96 bits (12 bytes). OpenSSL allows a variable nonce length and front pads the nonce with 0 bytes if it is less than 12 bytes. However it also incorrectly allows a nonce to be set of up to 16 bytes. In this case only the last 12 bytes are significant and any additional leading bytes are ignored. It is a requirement of using this cipher that nonce values are unique. Messages encrypted using a reused nonce value are susceptible to serious confidentiality and integrity attacks. If an application changes the default nonce length to be longer than 12 bytes and then makes a change to the leading bytes of the nonce expecting the new value to be a new unique nonce then such an application could inadvertently encrypt messages with a reused nonce. Additionally the ignored bytes in a long nonce are not covered by the integrity guarantee of this cipher. Any application that relies on the integrity of these ignored leading bytes of a long nonce may be further affected. Any OpenSSL internal use of this cipher, including in SSL/TLS, is safe because no such use sets such a long nonce value. However user applications that use this cipher directly and set a non-default nonce length to be longer than 12 bytes may be vulnerable. OpenSSL versions 1.1.1 and 1.1.0 are affected by this issue. Due to the limited scope of affected deployments this has been assessed as low severity and therefore we are not creating new releases at this time. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1c (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1b). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.0k (Affected 1.1.0-1.1.0j).

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
OpenSSL OpenSSL Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1c (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1b), Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.0k (Affected 1.1.0-1.1.0j) —

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.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 openssl 1.1.1c-1 —
Debian 13 openssl 1.1.1c-1 —
Debian 12 openssl 1.1.1c-1 —
Debian 9 openssl 1.1.0k-1~deb9u1 DSA-4475-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS openssl 1.1.1-1ubuntu2.1~18.04.2 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 8 openssl +3 1:1.1.1c-2.el8 RHSA-2019:3700
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 openssl-1_1 1.1.0i-4.21.1 SUSE-SU-2019:0678-1
SLES 12 SP4 openssl-1_1 1.1.1-2.9.1 SUSE-SU-2019:0787-1
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 12 SP4 openssl-1_1 1.1.1-2.9.1 SUSE-SU-2019:0787-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed openssl-1_1 1.1.1l-1.2 openSUSE-SU-2024:11127-1
openSUSE Leap 15.1 virtualbox 6.0.10-lp151.2.6.1 openSUSE-SU-2019:1814-1
openSUSE Leap 15.0 openssl-1_1 1.1.0i-lp150.3.22.3 openSUSE-SU-2019:1147-1
openSUSE Leap 15.0 virtualbox 6.0.10-lp151.2.6.1 openSUSE-SU-2019:1814-1
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine v3.24 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.24 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.23 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.23 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.22 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.22 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.21 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.21 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.20 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.20 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Show 11 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Alpine v3.19 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.19 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.18 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.18 openssl +1 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.17 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.17 openssl +1 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.16 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.16 openssl +1 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.15 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.15 openssl +1 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.14 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.14 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.13 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.13 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.12 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.12 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.11 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.11 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.10 file 5.36-r0 —
Alpine v3.10 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —
Alpine v3.9 openssl 1.1.1b-r1 —

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 8 openssl +3 1:1.1.1c-2.el8 ELSA-2019-3700

Advisories 9

References