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🛡️ CVE-2023-33201 — bc-java

🟡 CVSS 5.3 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-295 NVD
5.3
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Bouncy Castle For Java LDAP injection vulnerability

Bouncy Castle provides the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class which can be used in conjunction with the CertPath API for validating certificate paths. Pre-1.73 the implementation did not check the X.500 name of any certificate, subject, or issuer being passed in for LDAP wild cards, meaning the presence of a wild car may lead to Information Disclosure.

A potential attack would be to generate a self-signed certificate with a subject name that contains special characters, e.g: CN=Subject*)(objectclass=. This will be included into the filter and provides the attacker ability to specify additional attributes in the search query. This can be exploited as a blind LDAP injection: an attacker can enumerate valid attribute values using the boolean blind injection technique. The exploitation depends on the structure of the target LDAP directory, as well as what kind of errors are exposed to the user.

Changes to the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class add the additional checking of any X.500 name used to correctly escape wild card characters.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached over the network, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality low, integrity none, availability none.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

  • Attack vector: Network — reachable from anywhere that can route to the service.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: Low — limited, and the attacker does not choose what is affected.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: None.

Weakness class

CVE-2023-33201 is classified as CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation. A TLS certificate is accepted without proper verification, so a man-in-the-middle can present their own.

Affected software

CVE-2023-33201 is recorded against 13 packages.

  • bc-java (fixed in 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14 (from 1.49 up to 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on (from 1.49)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18 (fixed in 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on (fixed in 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14 (from 1.49 up to 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on (from 1.49)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18 (fixed in 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on (fixed in 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 (from 1.49 up to 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on (from 1.49)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 (fixed in 1.74)
  • org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on (fixed in 1.74)

Timeline and source

Published on 5 July 2023 and last revised on 17 June 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

bouncycastle.org
github.com
github.com
lists.debian.org
security.netapp.com
bouncycastle.org
github.com
github.com
lists.debian.org
security.netapp.com

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation) in other software:

CVE-2023-33201 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity MEDIUM
CVSS Score 5.3
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CWE CWE-295
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2023-07-05
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-06-17

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
bc-java 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14 1.49 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on 1.49
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14 1.49 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on 1.49
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 1.49 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on 1.49
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 1.74
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on 1.74

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