A security flaw was found in the implementation of ElGamal algorithm of python-crypto, a cryptography library for Python language, in the way how random number 'g' was generated (from the OSS post [1]): In the ElGamal schemes (for both encryption and signatures), g is supposed to be the generator of the entire Z^*_p group. However, in PyCrypto 2.5 and earlier, g is more simply the generator of a random sub-group of Z^*_p. The result is that the signature space (when the key is used for signing) or the public key space (when the key is used for encryption) may be greatly reduced from its expected size of log(p) bits, possibly down to 1 bit (the worst case if the order of g is 2). While it has not been confirmed, it has also been suggested that an attacker might be able to use this fact to determine the private key. References: [1] http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/05/25/1 [2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/pycrypto/+bug/985164 [3] https://www.dlitz.net/blog/2012/05/pycrypto-2-6-released/ [4] https://secunia.com/advisories/49263/ Upstream patch: [5] https://github.com/Legrandin/pycrypto/commit/9f912f13df99ad3421eff360d6a62d7dbec755c2
This issue affects the version of the python-crypto package, as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. -- This issue affects the versions of the python-crypto package, as shipped with Fedora release of 15 and 16. Please schedule an update. -- This issue affects the version of the python-crypto package, as shipped with Fedora EPEL 5. Please schedule an update.
Created python-crypto tracking bugs for this issue Affects: fedora-all [bug 825164] Affects: epel-5 [bug 825165]
python-crypto-2.6-1.fc17 has been pushed to the Fedora 17 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
python-crypto-2.3-6.fc15 has been pushed to the Fedora 15 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
python-crypto-2.3-6.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
python-crypto-2.0.1-5.el5 has been pushed to the Fedora EPEL 5 stable repository. If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.
Updates now stable for all current Fedora and EPEL releases.