Description
In RNP version 0.18.0 a refactoring regression causes the symmetric
session key used for Public-Key Encrypted Session Key (PKESK) packets to
be left uninitialized except for zeroing, resulting in it always being
an all-zero byte array.
Any data encrypted using public-key encryption
in this release can be decrypted trivially by supplying an all-zero
session key, fully compromising confidentiality.
The vulnerability affects only public key encryption (PKESK packets). Passphrase-based encryption (SKESK packets) is not affected.
Root cause: Vulnerable session key buffer used in PKESK packet generation.
The defect was introduced in commit `7bd9a8dc356aae756b40755be76d36205b6b161a` where initialization
logic inside `encrypted_build_skesk()` only randomized the key for the
SKESK path and omitted it for the PKESK path.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ribose | RNP | 0.18.0 | — |
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 | rnp | 0.18.1-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | rnp | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | rnp | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | rnp | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | rnp | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | rnp | 0.18.1-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2025:15762-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | rnp | 0.18.1-bp160.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2025:20116-1 |
Advisories 2
- openSUSE-SU-2025:20116-1 Security update for rnp SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2025:15762-1 librnp0-0.18.1-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
References
- Introducing commit related
- Ubuntu package
- Arch Linux AUR package
- Bugzilla report (may become public)
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2415863 issue-tracking
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2025-13402 third-party-advisory
- https://open.ribose.com/advisories/ra-2025-11-20/ vendor-advisory
- https://github.com/rnpgp/rnp/releases/tag/v0.18.1 release-notes