CVE-2026-18040
In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, HQC leaked secret-derived data through two side channels: its GF(2^8) arithmetic used lookup tables indexed by field elements, making the cache line touched a function of the operand, and its fixed-weight support sampler left its duplicate scan as soon as a collision was found and stored accepted positions at a secret index. Both run on secret inputs during encapsulation and decapsulation, and the sampler re-expands the secret key from its seed on every decapsulation, so an attacker able to observe cache behaviour or decapsulation timing can recover information about the HQC private key. The field arithmetic is now table-free and the sampler branch-free within a batch of candidates, with output and randomness consumption unchanged.
CVSS
- Versión: 4.0
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber
- Puntuación base: 5.9
Probabilidad de explotación (EPSS)
- Probabilidad de explotación en los próximos 30 días: 0.11%
- Percentil entre todas las CVEs puntuadas: 1
- Fecha de la puntuación: 6/10/2026
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, de FIRST) estima la probabilidad de que una vulnerabilidad sea explotada en 30 días. Complementa a CVSS (impacto) y a CISA KEV (explotación confirmada).
🎯 Técnicas ATT&CK
Cómo se explota esta vulnerabilidad y qué consigue el atacante, en el lenguaje de MITRE ATT&CK.
- Explotación
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalationprivilege escalation45 % - Impacto principal
T1552.007Container APIcredential access72 % - Impacto secundario
T1040Network Sniffingcredential access · discovery65 %
Acceso local (AV:L) sin interacción (UI:N) que filtra datos secretos (clave privada HQC) mediante canales laterales de caché y timing; permite recuperar información criptográfica mediante observación de comportamiento.
Inferido por nuestro agente de análisis a partir de la descripción oficial, el vector CVSS y la CWE, y comprobado por un supervisor. Puede contener errores.
🛡️ Mitigaciones ATT&CK que cubren estas técnicas
Tecnologías afectadas (1)
⚠ Inferidas por IA a partir de la descripción — NVD aún no ha analizado esta CVE; no son CPE verificados.
CWE
- CWE-208
Referencias
JSON original (NVD)
Mostrar
{
"id": "CVE-2026-18040",
"cveTags": [],
"metrics": {
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{
"source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
"ssvcData": {
"id": "CVE-2026-18040",
"role": "CISA Coordinator",
"options": [
{
"exploitation": "none"
},
{
"automatable": "no"
},
{
"technicalImpact": "partial"
}
],
"version": "2.0.3",
"timestamp": "2026-10-05T16:00:03.782416Z"
}
}
],
"cvssMetricV40": [
{
"type": "Secondary",
"source": "91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630",
"cvssData": {
"Safety": "NOT_DEFINED",
"version": "4.0",
"Recovery": "NOT_DEFINED",
"baseScore": 5.9,
"Automatable": "NOT_DEFINED",
"attackVector": "LOCAL",
"baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
"valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED",
"vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:Amber",
"exploitMaturity": "NOT_DEFINED",
"providerUrgency": "AMBER",
"userInteraction": "NONE",
"attackComplexity": "HIGH",
"attackRequirements": "PRESENT",
"privilegesRequired": "NONE",
"subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
"vulnIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
"integrityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedAttackVector": "NOT_DEFINED",
"subAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
"vulnAvailabilityImpact": "NONE",
"availabilityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedUserInteraction": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedAttackComplexity": "NOT_DEFINED",
"subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
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"confidentialityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedAttackRequirements": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedPrivilegesRequired": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedSubIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedVulnIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
"vulnerabilityResponseEffort": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedSubAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedVulnAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedSubConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
"modifiedVulnConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED"
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"affected": [
{
"source": "91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630",
"affectedData": [
{
"repo": "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java",
"vendor": "Legion of the Bouncy Castle Inc.",
"modules": [
"core"
],
"product": "BC-JAVA",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "1.73",
"lessThan": "1.86",
"versionType": "maven"
}
],
"platforms": [
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],
"packageURL": "pkg:maven/org.bouncycastle/bcprov-jdk18on",
"packageName": "bcprov",
"programFiles": [
"GF",
"HQCEngine",
"ReedSolomon",
"FastFourierTransform"
],
"collectionURL": "https://www.bouncycastle.org/download/bouncy-castle-java/",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected"
}
]
}
],
"published": "2026-10-03T09:17:04.360",
"references": [
{
"url": "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/283acd81048ec9e951032525279d3b58aaf0bb03",
"source": "91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630"
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{
"url": "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE%E2%80%902026%E2%80%9018040",
"source": "91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630"
}
],
"vulnStatus": "Awaiting Analysis",
"weaknesses": [
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"source": "91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630",
"description": [
{
"lang": "en",
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],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In Bouncy Castle for Java before 1.86, HQC leaked secret-derived data through two side channels: its GF(2^8) arithmetic used lookup tables indexed by field elements, making the cache line touched a function of the operand, and its fixed-weight support sampler left its duplicate scan as soon as a collision was found and stored accepted positions at a secret index. Both run on secret inputs during encapsulation and decapsulation, and the sampler re-expands the secret key from its seed on every decapsulation, so an attacker able to observe cache behaviour or decapsulation timing can recover information about the HQC private key. The field arithmetic is now table-free and the sampler branch-free within a batch of candidates, with output and randomness consumption unchanged."
}
],
"lastModified": "2026-10-06T14:49:40.823",
"sourceIdentifier": "91579145-5d7b-4cc5-b925-a0262ff19630"
}