CVE-2016-1000343: Bouncy Castle Security Vulnerability Vulnerability
HIGHCVE-2016-1000343 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (General Security Weakness) affecting Bouncy Castle libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves in bouncy castle jce provider the dsa key pair generator generates a weak private key if used with default values. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 1.56.
CVE-2016-1000343 at a Glance
Security Impact
CVSS: 7.5
The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).
How to Fix CVE-2016-1000343
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Bouncy Castle dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
<dependency>
<groupId>org.bouncycastle</groupId>
<artifactId>bcprov-jdk14</artifactId>
<version>1.56</version>
</dependency><dependency>
<groupId>org.bouncycastle</groupId>
<artifactId>bcprov-jdk15</artifactId>
<version>1.56</version>
</dependency><dependency>
<groupId>org.bouncycastle</groupId>
<artifactId>bcprov-jdk15on</artifactId>
<version>1.56</version>
</dependency>Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.bouncycastleHow to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2016-1000343, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.bouncycastleAnalyze the terminal output to locate any version of Bouncy Castle in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 1.56), your application is affected.
Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.bouncycastle command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.
Technical Details
Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis
This vulnerability is classified under General Security Weakness. In Bouncy Castle, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.
Source Advisory Statement
CVE-2016-1000343 Affected Bouncy Castle Versions
3 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14
|
Maven |
< 1.56
|
1.56
|
|
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15
|
Maven |
< 1.56
|
1.56
|
|
org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on
|
Maven |
< 1.56
|
1.56
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2016-1000343?
Which Bouncy Castle versions are affected?
What version fixes CVE-2016-1000343?
Is bcprov-jdk14 affected?
Is bcprov-jdk15 affected?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-1000343?
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-1000343?
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2016-1000343?
Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-rrvx-pwf8-p59p",
"modified" : "2025-09-12T19:14:22Z",
"published" : "2018-10-17T16:24:22Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-1000343" ],
"summary" : "In Bouncy Castle JCE Provider the DSA key pair generator generates a weak private key if used with default values",
"details" : "In the Bouncy Castle JCE Provider version 1.55 and earlier the DSA key pair generator generates a weak private key if used with default values. If the JCA key pair generator is not explicitly initialised with DSA parameters, 1.55 and earlier generates a private value assuming a 1024 bit key size. In earlier releases this can be dealt with by explicitly passing parameters to the key pair generator.",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V3",
"score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Maven",
"name" : "org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "1.56"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Maven",
"name" : "org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "1.56"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Maven",
"name" : "org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "0"
}, {
"fixed" : "1.56"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1000343"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java/commit/50a53068c094d6cff37659da33c9b4505becd389#diff-5578e61500abb2b87b300d3114bdfd7d"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2669"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2927"
}, {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rrvx-pwf8-p59p"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/bcgit/bc-java"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/708d94141126eac03011144a971a6411fcac16d9c248d1d535a39451@%3Csolr-user.lucene.apache.org%3E"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00009.html"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20181127-0004"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://usn.ubuntu.com/3727-1"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ ],
"severity" : "HIGH",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:55:50Z",
"nvd_published_at" : "2018-06-04T13:29:00Z"
}
}