CVE-2017-3738: There is an overflow bug in the AVX2 Montgomery multiplication procedure used in exponentiation with 1024-bit moduli.

There is an overflow bug in the AVX2 Montgomery multiplication procedure used in exponentiation with 1024-bit moduli.

There is an overflow bug in the AVX2 Montgomery multiplication procedure used in exponentiation with 1024-bit moduli. No EC algorithms are affected. Analysis suggests that attacks against RSA and DSA as a result of this defect would be very difficult to perform and are not believed likely. Attacks against DH1024 are considered just feasible, because most of the work necessary to deduce information about a private key may be performed offline. The amount of resources required for such an attack would be significant. However, for an attack on TLS to be meaningful, the server would have to share the DH1024 private key among multiple clients, which is no longer an option since CVE-2016-0701. This only affects processors that support the AVX2 but not ADX extensions like Intel Haswell (4th generation). Note: The impact from this issue is similar to CVE-2017-3736, CVE-2017-3732 and CVE-2015-3193. OpenSSL version 1.0.2-1.0.2m and 1.1.0-1.1.0g are affected. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2n. Due to the low severity of this issue we are not issuing a new release of OpenSSL 1.1.0 at this time. The fix will be included in OpenSSL 1.1.0h when it becomes available. The fix is also available in commit e502

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by openssl-security@openssl.org

What it means for a small business

OpenSSL runs on web servers, so this is mostly your hosting company's to fix. On shared hosting you can't patch it yourself, but you can ask.

Ask your host whether your server runs it, whether it's updated, and on what date. A good host answers that in a day.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 13%, top 4% of all CVEs. That’s high: fix it ahead of everything else on the list. Scored October 28, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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