CVE-2025-52473CWE-200

liboqs secret-dependent branching in HQC reference implementation when compiled with Clang 17-20

Medium · published July 10, 2025

CVSS v3.1
5.9
EPSS
0%
Percentile
13.7
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

liboqs is a C-language cryptographic library that provides implementations of post-quantum cryptography algorithms. Multiple secret-dependent branches have been identified in the reference implementation of the HQC key encapsulation mechanism when it is compiled with Clang for optimization levels above -O0 (-O1, -O2, etc). A proof-of-concept local attack exploits this secret-dependent information to recover the entire secret key. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.14.0.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
5.9 · MEDIUM
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00235 · 13.7th percentile
Weakness
CWE-200 · Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Published
2025-07-10T18:42Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 10 JUL 18:42Z
    liboqs secret-dependent branching in HQC reference implementation when compiled with Clang 17-20
    cvelistv5