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CVE-2026-41588
critical
CVSS 9.0
Vulnerability in timing-attack (CVE-2026-41588)
Summary
vulnerability in timing-attack (CVE-2026-41588). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
AI summary openai / gpt-4o
A vulnerability in RELATE, a web-based courseware, allows attackers to infer login information through a timing attack, similar to Heartbleed. The issue has been patched, so immediate updates are crucial for affected systems.
The RELATE courseware has a timing attack vulnerability in the check_sign_in_key() function in course/auth.py. This is due to the non-constant time comparison of authentication tokens using Python's `==` operator, which allows an attacker to infer tokens byte-by-byte. It has been patched by using `hmac.compare_digest`. Affected versions are `<=2024.1`, with the fix in commit `2f68e16`.
❓ What is the problem
Timing attack vulnerability in RELATE courseware allows inference of login information.
📍 Affected scope
In course/auth.py — specifically in the check_sign_in_key() function.
🔥 Severity
Critical, CVSS v3: 9.0 suggests remote exploitation without authentication or user interaction.
🔧 How to fix
Update to the patched commit 2f68e16 or later, using hmac.compare_digest for secure comparison.
🛡️ Workaround
No specific workaround provided; immediate patching recommended.
🔍 Detection
Identify requests to course/auth.py and measure timing responses for anomalies.
Related past incidents Similar incidents extracted from past CVEs
The Heartbleed bug exploited timing vulnerabilities to leak memory contents, similar to this case with RELATE.
A timing attack vulnerability in Django similar in nature, allowing attackers to infer sensitive information.
If this happens at your company Expected impact per business scenario
📌 Educational institutions using RELATE for course management.
Attackers could gain unauthorized access to course materials and student data.
📌 Organizations using custom deployments of RELATE.
Sensitive internal information may be compromised through token leakage.
📌 Developers working on similar authentication systems.
Might need to reevaluate their use of string comparisons to avoid timing attacks.
Recommended action
Organizations should update to the latest patch immediately and evaluate other systems for similar vulnerabilities.
Response Actions (7 steps)
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
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1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.依存マニフェストで影響コンポーネントを特定する。
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2Match against affected range verify
Confirm if version satisfies `<=2024.1`Step 1 で見つかったバージョンが影響範囲 `<=2024.1` に該当するか照合。本番で稼働中ならインシデント扱い。
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7Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番では Step 3 と同じログクエリでアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
References
- web [email protected]
- web [email protected]