CVE-2023-2650
Possible DoS translating ASN.1 object identifiers
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Description
Issue summary: Processing some specially crafted ASN.1 object identifiers or data containing them may be very slow. Impact summary: Applications that use OBJ_obj2txt() directly, or use any of the OpenSSL subsystems OCSP, PKCS7/SMIME, CMS, CMP/CRMF or TS with no message size limit may experience notable to very long delays when processing those messages, which may lead to a Denial of Service. An OBJECT IDENTIFIER is composed of a series of numbers - sub-identifiers - most of which have no size limit. OBJ_obj2txt() may be used to translate an ASN.1 OBJECT IDENTIFIER given in DER encoding form (using the OpenSSL type ASN1_OBJECT) to its canonical numeric text form, which are the sub-identifiers of the OBJECT IDENTIFIER in decimal form, separated by periods. When one of the sub-identifiers in the OBJECT IDENTIFIER is very large (these are sizes that are seen as absurdly large, taking up tens or hundreds of KiBs), the translation to a decimal number in text may take a very long time. The time complexity is O(n^2) with 'n' being the size of the sub-identifiers in bytes (*). With OpenSSL 3.0, support to fetch cryptographic algorithms using names / identifiers in string form was introduced. This includes using OBJECT IDENTIFIERs in canonical numeric text form as identifiers for fetching algorithms. Such OBJECT IDENTIFIERs may be received through the ASN.1 structure AlgorithmIdentifier, which is commonly used in multiple protocols to specify what cryptographic algorithm should be used to sign or verify, encrypt or decrypt, or digest passed data. Applications that call OBJ_obj2txt() directly with untrusted data are affected, with any version of OpenSSL. If the use is for the mere purpose of display, the severity is considered low. In OpenSSL 3.0 and newer, this affects the subsystems OCSP, PKCS7/SMIME, CMS, CMP/CRMF or TS. It also impacts anything that processes X.509 certificates, including simple things like verifying its signature. The impact on TLS is relatively low, because all versions of OpenSSL have a 100KiB limit on the peer's certificate chain. Additionally, this only impacts clients, or servers that have explicitly enabled client authentication. In OpenSSL 1.1.1 and 1.0.2, this only affects displaying diverse objects, such as X.509 certificates. This is assumed to not happen in such a way that it would cause a Denial of Service, so these versions are considered not affected by this issue in such a way that it would be cause for concern, and the severity is therefore considered low.
Official description from the CVE record, published by openssl. Copyright © 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. See /security/cve/legal for the CVE license. View the record on cve.org
Key data
CVSS 3.1 Medium 6.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector: Network
The vulnerable component can be reached over a network, possibly from the Internet.
Attack complexity: Low
No special conditions are needed. The attack can be repeated at will.
Privileges required: None
No account or privileges are needed.
User interaction: Required
A user has to do something first, such as opening a file or following a link.
Scope: Unchanged
The impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality impact: None
No effect on the secrecy of data.
Integrity impact: None
No effect on the trustworthiness of data.
Availability impact: High
Serious or total effect on availability.
| Metric | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Attack vector | Network | The vulnerable component can be reached over a network, possibly from the Internet. |
| Attack complexity | Low | No special conditions are needed. The attack can be repeated at will. |
| Privileges required | None | No account or privileges are needed. |
| User interaction | Required | A user has to do something first, such as opening a file or following a link. |
| Scope | Unchanged | The impact stays within the vulnerable component. |
| Confidentiality impact | None | No effect on the secrecy of data. |
| Integrity impact | None | No effect on the trustworthiness of data. |
| Availability impact | High | Serious or total effect on availability. |
CVSS is owned and managed by FIRST.Org, Inc. (FIRST) and is used by permission. Each CVSS score on this site is shown together with its vector string, as published in the CVE record by the source named next to it. Learn more at first.org/cvss.
EPSS
- Score
- 0.75358 (75.4% probability)
- Percentile
- 99.5%
- Scores of
- Nov 10, 2026
- Model
- v2026.06.15
CISA assessment as of Mar 6, 2025
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
Affected products
OpenSSL
- affected: 3.1.1 up to before 3.1.1
- affected: 3.0.0 up to before 3.0.9
- affected: 1.1.1 up to before 1.1.1u
- affected: 1.0.2 up to before 1.0.2zh
References
- OpenSSL Advisory (openssl.org)vendor-advisory
- 3.1.1 git commit (git.openssl.org)patch
- 3.0.9 git commit (git.openssl.org)patch
- 1.1.1u git commit (git.openssl.org)patch
- 1.0.2zh patch (premium) (git.openssl.org)patch
- openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/05/30/1
- debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5417
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/06/msg00011.html
- psirt.global.sonicwall.com/vuln-detail/SNWLID-2023-0009
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230703-0001
- security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20231027-0009
- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202402-08
Timeline
- ID reserved
- Record published
- Record last updated
Look up another CVE
About CubePath
Data from the CVE Program (MITRE), CISA KEV and FIRST EPSS. CVSS is owned by FIRST and used by permission. Not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE, CISA or FIRST. Data as of Nov 10, 2026, 19:51 UTC. Sources and licenses