GnuTLS PKCS#7 Padding Timing SideChannel Info Disclosure
CVE-2026-5419 Published on June 1, 2026
Guntls: gnutls: information disclosure via timing side-channel in pkcs#7 padding removal
A flaw was found in gnutls. The PKCS#7 padding check, performed during decryption, was not constant-time. This timing side-channel could allow a remote attacker to potentially leak sensitive information about the padding bytes through observable timing differences. This vulnerability is a form of information disclosure.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-5419 can be exploited with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a small impact on confidentiality, a small impact on integrity and availability.
Timeline
Reported to Red Hat.
Made public.
Weakness Type
Observable Timing Discrepancy
Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not. In security-relevant contexts, even small variations in timing can be exploited by attackers to indirectly infer certain details about the product's internal operations. For example, in some cryptographic algorithms, attackers can use timing differences to infer certain properties about a private key, making the key easier to guess. Timing discrepancies effectively form a timing side channel.
Products Associated with CVE-2026-5419
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Affected Versions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10:- Version 0:3.8.10-4.el10_2 and below * is unaffected.