Critical

PHPECC vulnerable to multiple cryptographic side-channel attacks

  • Disclosed: 25.04.2024
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

ECDSA Canonicalization

PHPECC is vulnerable to malleable ECDSA signature attacks.

Constant-Time Signer

When generating a new ECDSA signature, the GMPMath adapter was used. This class wraps the GNU Multiple Precision arithmetic library (GMP), which does not aim to provide constant-time implementations of algorithms.

An attacker capable of triggering many signatures and studying the time it takes to perform each operation would be able to leak the secret number, k, and thereby learn the private key.

EcDH Timing Leaks

When calculating a shared secret using the EcDH class, the scalar-point multiplication is based on the arithmetic defined by the Point class.

Even though the library implements a Montgomery ladder, the add(), mul(), and getDouble() methods on the Point class are not constant-time. This means that your ECDH private keys are leaking information about each bit of your private key through a timing side-channel.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package mdanter/ecc <= 1.0.0 no fix

References

CVSS score 9.1/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-203, CWE-354
Platform
Composer
Package
mdanter/ecc
Disclosed
25.04.2024
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-346h-749j-r28w - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: mdanter/ecc

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
2
First → latest
04.2024 04.2024
Without a fix
2
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 1
  • Medium 1

Disclosures per year

  1. 2024: 2
  2. 2025: 0
  3. 2026: 0
  1. PHPECC vulnerable to multiple cryptographic side-channel attacks this entry
    Critical · 9.1 ghsa-346h-749j-r28w <= 1.0.0 no fix

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