RSA-OAEP Padding Oracle in OP-TEE NXP CAAM Driver

Executive Summary

CVE-2026-41515 is a vulnerability in the NXP CAAM crypto driver within the OP-TEE OS, affecting versions 3.9.0 up to but not including 4.11.0. The issue arises from the RSA-OAEP decryption implementation using a non-constant-time memcmp() function for label hash verification and having multiple distinguishable error paths.

This creates a Manger-style padding oracle that allows an attacker to recover RSA-OAEP plaintext by submitting approximately 1000-2000 adaptive chosen ciphertext queries and analyzing timing differences in the responses.

The vulnerability is due to three distinguishable failure modes in the OAEP unpadding routine: a timing-leaking hash comparison, a padding scan loop with variable execution time, and an early return for missing separators. These allow an attacker to differentiate error conditions and recover plaintext.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by observing the behavior of the RSA-OAEP decryption interface in the NXP CAAM crypto driver on affected OP-TEE OS versions (3.9.0 up to but not including 4.11.0). Specifically, detection involves monitoring for timing differences and distinguishable error responses during RSA-OAEP decryption operations.

Since the vulnerability is a Manger-style padding oracle caused by non-constant-time memcmp() and multiple error paths, detection requires adaptive chosen ciphertext queries to the TEE RSA-OAEP decryption interface and analyzing the timing and error response patterns.

There are no explicit commands provided in the resources to detect this vulnerability directly on your system or network.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can impact you by allowing a local attacker with access to the affected system to recover plaintext data encrypted with RSA-OAEP by exploiting timing differences in the decryption process.

Because the attack requires approximately 1000-2000 adaptive chosen ciphertext queries and local access with high attack complexity, the risk is considered low but still significant for sensitive cryptographic operations.

Successful exploitation could lead to exposure of sensitive encrypted information processed by the NXP CAAM crypto driver on affected OP-TEE platforms.

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Compliance Impact

The provided information does not specify any direct impact of this vulnerability on compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

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Mitigation Strategies

The immediate mitigation step is to disable the NXP CAAM RSA driver by setting the configuration option CFG_CRYPTO_DRV_RSA=n.

Additionally, upgrading to OP-TEE OS version 4.11.0 or later is recommended, as this version contains a patch that fixes the vulnerability by replacing memcmp() with a constant-time comparison function, removing early-exit loops, and consolidating error handling to eliminate timing variations.

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