VulnerabilityPublished 22 Aug 2024Updated 10 Sep 2024

CVE-2024-45192: olm · Covert Timing Channel

Affects olmSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium : upgrade to 3.2.17 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 44% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 3.2.17

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: High
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: High: A successful attack depends on conditions beyond the attacker's control. That is, a successful attack cannot be accomplished at will, but requires the attacker to invest in some measurable amount of effort in preparation or execution against the vulnerable component before a successful attack can be expected. For example, a successful attack may require an attacker to: gather knowledge about the environment in which the vulnerable target/component exists; prepare the target environment to improve exploit reliability; or inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim in order to read and/or modify network communications (e.g., a man in the middle attack).
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Aug 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade matrix-org/olm to 3.2.17.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubmatrix-org/olm`pkg:github/matrix-org/olm`Other threats	Affected <3.2.17	Fixed in 3.2.17

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Since no official patches are available for this vulnerability in unsupported libolm versions, organizations should prioritize migrating to supported versions of libolm or alternative cryptographic libraries that do not exhibit this timing side-channel. If migration is not immediately feasible, network-level mitigations such as isolating affected systems, restricting access to trusted networks, and monitoring for unusual traffic patterns can reduce exposure. Implementing constant-time cryptographic operations or using hardened base64 decoding routines in custom forks may mitigate timing leakage but requires expert development effort. Additionally, organizations should audit their use of Matrix-based encrypted messaging to identify legacy deployments and plan decommissioning or upgrades. Employing end-to-end encryption solutions with active maintenance and security support is critical. Regular security assessments and penetration testing focusing on side-channel vulnerabilities can help detect similar issues early. Finally, educating developers and administrators about side-channel risks and secure coding practices will reduce future vulnerabilities.

Description

An issue was discovered in Matrix libolm through 3.2.16. Cache-timing attacks can occur due to use of base64 when decoding group session keys. This refers to the libolm implementation of Olm. NOTE: This vulnerability only affects products that are no longer supported by the maintainer.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2024-45192 is the potential disclosure of sensitive cryptographic group session keys used in Matrix end-to-end encrypted group chats. This compromises the confidentiality of group communications, allowing attackers to decrypt messages and potentially gather sensitive information. Since the vulnerability does not affect integrity or availability, the system’s operation and message authenticity remain intact. The requirement for network access and low privileges lowers the barrier for exploitation, but the complexity of performing cache-timing attacks remotely may limit widespread abuse. The fact that only unsupported products are affected reduces the overall risk to the broader user base but poses a significant threat to organizations that continue to use legacy or unmaintained Matrix implementations. Such organizations may face data breaches, loss of privacy, and exposure of confidential communications. The absence of patches means that affected entities must rely on alternative mitigations or migration, increasing operational risk. The medium severity rating reflects these factors.

CWE-385Covert Timing Channel (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
Covert timing channels convey information by modulating some aspect of system behavior over time, so that the program receiving the information can observe system behavior and infer protected information.
Architecture and Design
Whenever possible, specify implementation strategies that do not introduce time variances in operations.
Implementation
Often one can artificially manipulate the time which operations take or -- when operations occur -- can remove information from the attacker.
Implementation
It is reasonable to add artificial or random delays so that the amount of CPU time consumed is independent of the action being taken by the application.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Cryptographic Storage (opens in a new tab)
Key Management (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V6.2.8 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Cross-Domain Search Timing (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Feb 2026, 06:55 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-385

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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