Bouncy Castle For Java LDAP injection vulnerability
Bouncy Castle provides the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class which can be used in conjunction with the CertPath API for validating certificate paths. Pre-1.73 the implementation did not check the X.500 name of any certificate, subject, or issuer being passed in for LDAP wild cards, meaning the presence of a wild car may lead to Information Disclosure.
A potential attack would be to generate a self-signed certificate with a subject name that contains special characters, e.g: CN=Subject*)(objectclass=. This will be included into the filter and provides the attacker ability to specify additional attributes in the search query. This can be exploited as a blind LDAP injection: an attacker can enumerate valid attribute values using the boolean blind injection technique. The exploitation depends on the structure of the target LDAP directory, as well as what kind of errors are exposed to the user.
Changes to the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class add the additional checking of any X.500 name used to correctly escape wild card characters.
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14 | >= 1.49, < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on | >= 1.49, <= 1.70 | no fix |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18 | < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on | < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14 | >= 1.49, < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on | >= 1.49, <= 1.70 | no fix |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18 | < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on | < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 | >= 1.49, < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on | >= 1.49, <= 1.70 | no fix |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 | < 1.74 | 1.74 |
| Java / Kotlin (Maven) | org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on | < 1.74 | 1.74 |
References
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-33201
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/ccf93ca736b89250ff4ce079a5aa56f5cbf0ebbd
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/e8c409a8389c815ea3fda5e8b94c92fdfe583bcc
- https://bouncycastle.org
- https://bouncycastle.org/releasenotes.html#r1rv74
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commits/main/prov/src/main/java/org/bouncycastle/jce/provider/X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java
- https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/wiki/CVE-2023-33201
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/08/msg00000.html
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230824-0008
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-295- Platform
- Java / Kotlin (Maven)
- Package
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18- Disclosed
- 05.07.2023
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 13:19
Sources and licenses
OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 - CC BY 4.0
Vulnerability history: org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14
All published vulnerabilities of this package (Java / Kotlin (Maven)), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 2
- First → latest
- 07.2023 04.2026
- Without a fix
- 1
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- Critical 1
- Medium 1
Disclosures per year
- 2023: 1
- 2024: 0
- 2025: 0
- 2026: 1
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