Using the EM side-channel, it is possible to extract the position of zero and non-zero wNAF digits while nss-certutil tool performs scalar multiplication during the ECDSA signature generation, leaking partial information about the ECDSA nonce. Given a small number of ECDSA signatures, this information can be used to steal the private key.
OpenShift 4.x only packages nss-altfiles and has been confirmed to *not* share any of the vulnerable signature code: - nss-altfiles only reads information from files in the same format as /etc/passwd and /etc/group.
Acknowledgments: Name: the Mozilla Project Upstream: Cesar Pereida (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC), Billy Bob Brumley (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC), Yuval Yarom (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC), Nicola Tuveri (Network and Information Security Group (NISEC)
This issue is related to CVE-2020-12400 and is resolved in the same commit at: https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/nss/rev/e55ab3145546ae3cf1333b43956a974675d2d25c https://hg.mozilla.org/projects/nss/rev/3f022d5eca5d3cd0e366a825a5681953d76299d0
External References: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS/NSS_3.55_release_notes
Created nss tracking bugs for this issue: Affects: fedora-all [bug 1862359]
Statement: This is a side channel attack which can used to exact pirate keys when ECDSA signatures are being generated. This attack is only feasible when the attacker is local to the machine or in certain cross-VM scenarios where the signature is being generated. Attacks over the network or via the internet are not feasible.
Mitigation: Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
This issue has been addressed in the following products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Via RHSA-2020:4076 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:4076
This bug is now closed. Further updates for individual products will be reflected on the CVE page(s): https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2020-6829
This issue has been addressed in the following products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Via RHSA-2021:0538 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2021:0538