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CVE-2021-3711

critical

In order to decrypt SM2 encrypted data an application is expected to call the API function EVP_PKEY_decrypt().

Vendor / product: Openssl — openssl

In order to decrypt SM2 encrypted data an application is expected to call the API function EVP_PKEY_decrypt(). Typically an application will call this function twice. The first time, on entry, the "out" parameter can be NULL and, on exit, the "outlen" parameter is populated with the buffer size required to hold the decrypted plaintext. The application can then allocate a sufficiently sized buffer and call EVP_PKEY_decrypt() again, but this time passing a non-NULL value for the "out" parameter. A bug in the implementation of the SM2 decryption code means that the calculation of the buffer size required to hold the plaintext returned by the first call to EVP_PKEY_decrypt() can be smaller than the actual size required by the second call. This can lead to a buffer overflow when EVP_PKEY_decrypt() is called by the application a second time with a buffer that is too small. A malicious attacker who is able present SM2 content for decryption to an application could cause attacker chosen data to overflow the buffer by up to a maximum of 62 bytes altering the contents of other data held after the buffer, possibly changing application behaviour or causing the application to crash. The location of the buffer is application dependent but is typically heap allocated. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.1l (Affected 1.1.1-1.1.1k).

CVSS
9.8
9.8 (CVSS v3.1)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Severity source: NVD CVSS v3.1 (nvd@nist.gov)
Timeline (UTC)
Published: 2021-08-24 15:15
Modified: 2026-10-08 21:17
NVD status: Modified
Last synced 2 days ago
Verified against the source API 2026-10-27 07:06 UTC
Exploitation
Not listed in CISA KEV (as of last catalog sync)
Absence from KEV does not mean a CVE is not exploited. Exploitation status: unknown (no authoritative evidence in our sources).

Affected products

openssl / openssl ≥1.1.1 <1.1.1l
debian / debian_linux 10.0, 11.0
netapp / active_iq_unified_manager all versions
netapp / clustered_data_ontap all versions
netapp / clustered_data_ontap_antivirus_connector all versions
netapp / e-series_santricity_os_controller ≥11.0 ≤11.50.2
netapp / hci_management_node all versions
netapp / manageability_software_development_kit all versions
netapp / oncommand_insight all versions
netapp / oncommand_workflow_automation all versions
netapp / santricity_smi-s_provider all versions
netapp / snapcenter all versions
netapp / solidfire all versions
netapp / storage_encryption all versions
oracle / communications_cloud_native_core_security_edge_protection_proxy 1.7.0
oracle / communications_cloud_native_core_unified_data_repository 1.15.0
oracle / communications_session_border_controller 8.4, 9.0
oracle / communications_unified_session_manager 8.2.5, 8.4.5
oracle / enterprise_communications_broker 3.2.0, 3.3.0
oracle / enterprise_session_border_controller 8.4, 9.0
oracle / essbase <11.1.2.4.47, ≥21.1 <21.3
oracle / health_sciences_inform_publisher 6.2.1.1, 6.3.1.1
oracle / jd_edwards_enterpriseone_tools <9.2.6.3
oracle / jd_edwards_world_security a9.4
oracle / mysql_connectors ≤8.0.27
oracle / mysql_enterprise_monitor ≤8.0.25
oracle / mysql_server ≥5.7.0 ≤5.7.35, ≥8.0.0 ≤8.0.26
oracle / peoplesoft_enterprise_peopletools 8.57, 8.58, 8.59
oracle / zfs_storage_appliance_kit 8.8
tenable / nessus_network_monitor ≤5.13.1
tenable / tenable.sc ≥5.16.0 ≤5.19.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

Source: NVD / CISA. “NVD-CWE-Other” and “NVD-CWE-noinfo” mean NVD could not assign a specific weakness.

Mitigation & advisories

Vendor advisory: https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20210824.txt
Vendor advisory: https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20210824.txt
Patch / mitigation: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
Patch / mitigation: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html
Patch / mitigation: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html
Patch / mitigation: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html
Patch / mitigation: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html
Patch / mitigation: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2021.html

References

Data sources

NVD CVE API 2.0 — fetched 2026-10-27 07:06 UTC · record ↗

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