# CVE-2024-42461: Elliptic ECDSA signature malleability via BER encoding

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2024-42461-elliptic-ecdsa-signature-malleability-via-ber-encoding  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2024-08-02. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2024-42461 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2024-08-02

The Elliptic cryptographic library, which provides ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) functionality used in Node.js applications, incorrectly accepts BER-encoded signatures instead of requiring strict DER encoding. This allows attackers to craft alternative valid signatures for the same message, undermining cryptographic signature verification in applications that rely on Elliptic for blockchain, API authentication, or other signature-dependent security controls.

Technologies: [elliptic (npm)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/elliptic). Vendors: [npm](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/npm).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2024-42461 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2024-42461 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2024-42461?** Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 2 August 2024.

**Which products and versions are affected?** elliptic (npm) SEMVER:introduced=5.2.1,fixed=6.5.7.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2024-42461?** Yes. elliptic (npm): upgrade to 6.5.7 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2024-42461 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2024-42461?** Check whether you run elliptic (npm) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## How to fix

- elliptic (npm): upgrade to 6.5.7 or later

  ```sh
  npm install elliptic@6.5.7
  ```


## Technical details

The vulnerability is a signature malleability issue (CWE-347) in the Elliptic library's ECDSA signature parsing code. The root cause is missing validation checks in the DER signature decoding logic (lib/elliptic/ec/signature.js and lib/elliptic/eddsa/signature.js). Specifically, the code accepts BER-encoded signatures with leading zeros in length sequences, and fails to enforce that the leading bit of r and s values be zero as required by DER/ASN.1 encoding. No authentication is required—any application verifying ECDSA signatures using Elliptic is affected if it trusts non-canonical encodings. An attacker can create multiple valid signatures for the same message and private key, enabling signature confusion attacks or bypassing signature-verification-based access controls. The vulnerability was patched in version 6.5.7 (released August 2024); versions 5.2.1 through 6.5.6 are vulnerable.

## Affected products

- indutny elliptic 5.2.1 through 6.5.6

## Identifiers

- CVE-2024-42461
- GHSA-49q7-c7j4-3p7m

## Timeline

- 2024-08-02: disclosed: CVE-2024-42461 published
- 2024-08-14: patched: Patch merged in v6.5.7 (indutny/elliptic#317)

## References

- [https://github.com/indutny/elliptic/pull/317](https://github.com/indutny/elliptic/pull/317)
- [https://github.com/indutny/elliptic/commit/accb61e9c1a005e5c8ff96a8b33893100bb42d11](https://github.com/indutny/elliptic/commit/accb61e9c1a005e5c8ff96a8b33893100bb42d11)
- [https://github.com/indutny/elliptic](https://github.com/indutny/elliptic)
- [https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241004-0005](https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241004-0005)

## Related threats

- [Elliptic ECDSA signature generation implementation flaw](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-14505-elliptic-ecdsa-signature-generation-implementation-flaw)
- [Elliptic ECDSA private key extraction via malformed input](https://junglewise.ai/threats/elliptic-ecdsa-private-key-extraction-via-malformed-input-286138fe)
- [Elliptic ECDSA signature verification bypass with leading zero bytes](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2024-48948-elliptic-ecdsa-signature-verification-bypass-with-leading-zero)
- [Elliptic EdDSA signature malleability via missing validation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2024-48949-elliptic-eddsa-signature-malleability-via-missing-validation)
- [Elliptic signature malleability in EDDSA and ECDSA](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2024-42459-elliptic-signature-malleability-in-eddsa-and-ecdsa)