What is CVE-2011-4574?

CVE-2011-4574 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Polarssl, classified under Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG). CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-10-27.

How severe is CVE-2011-4574?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Polarssl

CVE-2011-4574

PolarSSL versions prior to v1.1 use the HAVEGE random number generation algorithm. At its heart, this uses timing information based on the processor's high resolution timer (the RDTSC instruction). This instruction can be virtualized, and some virtual machine hosts have chosen to disable this instruction, returning 0s or predictable results.

Published 2021-10-27 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.011 (63.9th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 64th percentile — 63.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.011 · newest: 0.011 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Polarssl
Polarssl — versions PolarSSL 1.1.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-338 — Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG)

References

tls.mbed.org/tech-updates/security-advisories/polarssl-security-advisory-2011-02 (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2011-4574?: CVE-2011-4574 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Polarssl, classified under Use of Cryptographically Weak Pseudo-Random Number Generator (PRNG). CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-10-27.
How severe is CVE-2011-4574?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.