CVE-2020-12402

Name of the Vulnerable Software and Affected Versions: Firefox versions prior to 78

Description: The issue is related to weaknesses in the cryptographic algorithms used by the Network Security Services (NSS) library. It allows an attacker to gain access to confidential data by exploiting a side channel attack during RSA key generation. Specifically, the bignum implementations used a variation of the Binary Extended Euclidean Algorithm, which had input-dependent flow, enabling attackers to record traces and recover secret primes through electromagnetic-based side channel attacks. Note that an unmodified Firefox browser is not affected in normal operation, but products built on top of it might be.

Recommendations: For Firefox versions prior to 78, update to version 78 or later to resolve the issue. As a temporary workaround, consider restricting RSA key generation in affected products until a patch is available.