Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This flaw affects Bouncy Castle Java’s Kyber/ML-KEM implementation. If an attacker can observe timing across many decapsulation operations using the same long-term private key, they may recover that key. It is serious for systems using affected post-quantum cryptography, but exploitation requires precise timing conditions and repeated access.
Executive priority
Treat as high priority where Bouncy Castle Java powers post-quantum key exchange or cryptographic services. For organizations not using ML-KEM/Kyber, urgency is lower. The main business risk is compromise of cryptographic private keys under specialized but credible timing conditions.
Technical view
BC-JAVA versions 1.73 to before 1.78 used non-constant-time division on secret-derived Kyber polynomial coefficients in Poly.toMsg, Poly.compressPoly, and PolyVec.compressPolyVec. The issue maps to KyberSlash1 and KyberSlash2. Encapsulation-side compression on public ciphertext values is stated as not affected.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to applications using affected Bouncy Castle Java versions for ML-KEM/CRYSTALS-Kyber decapsulation with reusable long-term private keys. Organizations not using Bouncy Castle Java or not using these Kyber routines are unlikely to be affected.
Exploitation context
No KEV listing or provided source indicates active exploitation. Practical attack conditions require measuring timing over many decapsulations against the same private key, making this higher effort but potentially high impact for exposed cryptographic services.
Researcher notes
Focus analysis on reachable decapsulation paths and key reuse. The source states Poly.toMsg and ciphertext compression divisions are affected; encapsulation compression is not. Evidence provided does not establish public exploitation, exploit maturity, or impact beyond affected Bouncy Castle Java implementations.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Bouncy Castle Java to version 1.78 or later, per the affected range.
- Identify applications bundling or depending on bcprov 1.73 through pre-1.78 versions.
- Prioritize services performing ML-KEM/Kyber decapsulation with long-lived private keys.
- Review vendor advisory and patch commits for implementation-specific guidance.
- Consider key rotation after upgrade if exposed long-term keys handled repeated decapsulation requests.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Java dependencies for Bouncy Castle bcprov versions.
- Confirm whether applications use ML-KEM or CRYSTALS-Kyber functionality.
- Check whether decapsulation uses long-term private keys.
- Verify deployed libraries are upgraded to 1.78 or later.
- Document systems where affected routines were reachable by untrusted clients.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
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ATT&CK lookup starting points
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CWE-208: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2024-14041 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.2 (4.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber——bcorgVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
8.2HighVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/U:Amber
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE-2024-14041CVE reference, bcorg · vendor-advisory
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/5adb2c5c5b462a332b01a012bea0784b40b904e5CVE reference, bcorg · patch
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/1590247178f2280defa36421475f015175dfbe9eCVE reference, bcorg · patch
- https://kyberslash.cr.yp.to/CVE reference, bcorg · technical-description
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Observable Timing Discrepancy
Observable Timing Discrepancy represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.