RSA attacks

When it applies

RSA is used somewhere you can reach on an authorized target — a session token/cookie, a licence check, a custom API request signature, a JWT (RS256), or an exposed keypair — and you can read the public key (n, e) and a ciphertext/signature. Real systems get RSA wrong in a handful of repeatable ways; each has a direct recovery.

Why it works

RSA is only as strong as its parameters and padding. "Textbook" RSA (no OAEP/PSS) is malleable and deterministic, small or shared parameters are mathematically reversible, and a factorable modulus hands you the private key outright. You don't break RSA — you exploit the specific weakness in this key.