WinSCP and 3 others: Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)
CVE-2024-31497 is fixed in 5 products on 2 platforms, first by PuTTY 0.81.0.0, released April 6, 2024. 1 other affected product has no fix yet. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine.
In PuTTY 0.68 through 0.80 before 0.81, biased ECDSA nonce generation allows an attacker to recover a user's NIST P-521 secret key via a quick attack in approximately 60 signatures. This is especially important in a scenario where an adversary is able to read messages signed by PuTTY or Pageant. The required set of signed messages may be publicly readable because they are stored in a public Git service that supports use of SSH for commit signing, and the signatures were made by Pageant through an agent-forwarding mechanism. In other words, an adversary may already have enough signature information to compromise a victim's private key, even if there is no further use of vulnerable PuTTY versions. After a key compromise, an adversary may be able to conduct supply-chain attacks on software maintained in Git. A second, independent scenario is that the adversary is an operator of an SSH server to which the victim authenticates (for remote login or file copy), even though this server is not fully trusted by the victim, and the victim uses the same private key for SSH connections to other services operated by other entities. Here, the rogue server operator (who would otherwise have no way to determine the victim's private key) can derive the victim's private key, and then use it for unauthorized access to those other services. If the other services include Git services, then again it may be possible to conduct supply-chain attacks on software maintained in Git. This also affects, for example, FileZilla before 3.67.0, WinSCP before 6.3.3, TortoiseGit before 2.15.0.1, and TortoiseSVN through 1.14.6.
Where it's fixed
| Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows apps | |||
| PuTTY | 0.81.0.0 | PuTTY 0.81.0.0 | Apr 6, 2024 |
| PuTTY CAC | 0.81.0.0 | PuTTY CAC 0.81.0.0 | Apr 15, 2024 |
| WinSCP | 6.3.3 | WinSCP 6.3.3 | Apr 16, 2024 |
| Linux | |||
| filezilla · Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 3.67.0-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-31497 | Apr 15, 2024 |
| filezilla · Debian 14 | 3.67.0-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-31497 | Apr 15, 2024 |
| putty · Debian 12.15 (bookworm) | 0.78-2+deb12u2 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-31497 | Apr 15, 2024 |
| putty · Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 0.81-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-31497 | Apr 15, 2024 |
| putty · Debian 14 | 0.81-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2024-31497 | Apr 15, 2024 |
| No fix yet | |||
| WinSCP RC (Windows apps) | No fix yet | no-fix | n/a |
Patch Radar data is free to use with attribution. Terms and how to credit it.
Product names, logos and trademarks shown on Patch Radar belong to their respective owners. They are used only to identify the software each security fix applies to and to help readers find their platform. Their use does not imply any affiliation with, or endorsement by, those owners, and Patchblox is not affiliated with any of them.