« Back to list

CVE-2025-59432

Status: DeferredMedium (6.6)—

SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) is part of the family of Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL, RFC 4422) authentication mechanisms. Prior to version 3.2, a timing attack vulnerability exists in the SCRAM Java implementation. The issue arises because Arrays.equals was used to compare secret values such as client proofs and server signatures. Since Arrays.equals performs a short-circuit comparison, the execution time varies depending on how many leading bytes match.

Read full descriptionShow less

This behavior could allow an attacker to perform a timing side-channel attack and potentially infer sensitive authentication material. All users relying on SCRAM authentication are impacted. This vulnerability has been patched in version 3.1 by replacing Arrays.equals with MessageDigest.isEqual, which ensures constant-time comparison.

CVSS

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

Affected technologies (1)

⚠ AI-inferred from the description — NVD hasn't analyzed this CVE yet, these aren't verified CPEs.

CWEs

References

Raw JSON (NVD)

Show
{
  "id": "CVE-2025-59432",
  "cveTags": [],
  "metrics": {
    "ssvcV203": [
      {
        "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
        "ssvcData": {
          "id": "CVE-2025-59432",
          "role": "CISA Coordinator",
          "options": [
            {
              "exploitation": "none"
            },
            {
              "automatable": "yes"
            },
            {
              "technicalImpact": "partial"
            }
          ],
          "version": "2.0.3",
          "timestamp": "2025-09-22T19:39:54.878581Z"
        }
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV40": [
      {
        "type": "Secondary",
        "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
        "cvssData": {
          "Safety": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "version": "4.0",
          "Recovery": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "baseScore": 6.6,
          "Automatable": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
          "valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/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:X",
          "exploitMaturity": "UNREPORTED",
          "providerUrgency": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackRequirements": "NONE",
          "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",
          "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
          "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"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "affected": [
    {
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "vendor": "ongres",
          "product": "scram",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "< 3.2"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "published": "2025-09-22T20:15:38.673",
  "references": [
    {
      "url": "https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/25/docs/api/java.base/java/security/MessageDigest.html#isEqual(byte%5B%5D,byte%5B%5D)",
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/ongres/scram/commit/e0b0cf99f05406a0d26682c72fcb5728e95124b3",
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/ongres/scram/security/advisories/GHSA-3wfh-36rx-9537",
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com"
    }
  ],
  "vulnStatus": "Deferred",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "type": "Secondary",
      "source": "security-advisories@github.com",
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-208"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-385"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "SCRAM (Salted Challenge Response Authentication Mechanism) is part of the family of Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL, RFC 4422) authentication mechanisms. Prior to version 3.2, a timing attack vulnerability exists in the SCRAM Java implementation. The issue arises because Arrays.equals was used to compare secret values such as client proofs and server signatures. Since Arrays.equals performs a short-circuit comparison, the execution time varies depending on how many leading bytes match. This behavior could allow an attacker to perform a timing side-channel attack and potentially infer sensitive authentication material. All users relying on SCRAM authentication are impacted. This vulnerability has been patched in version 3.1 by replacing Arrays.equals with MessageDigest.isEqual, which ensures constant-time comparison."
    }
  ],
  "lastModified": "2026-06-17T09:46:09.483",
  "sourceIdentifier": "security-advisories@github.com"
}