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CWE-295 Detail

CWE-295

Improper Certificate Validation
Draft
2006-07-19 00:00 +00:00
2023-06-29 00:00 +00:00
CWE Mitre.org

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Improper Certificate Validation

The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.

Extended Description

When a certificate is invalid or malicious, it might allow an attacker to spoof a trusted entity by interfering in the communication path between the host and client. The product might connect to a malicious host while believing it is a trusted host, or the product might be deceived into accepting spoofed data that appears to originate from a trusted host.

Informations

Background Details

A certificate is a token that associates an identity (principal) to a cryptographic key. Certificates can be used to check if a public key belongs to the assumed owner.

Modes Of Introduction

Architecture and Design
Implementation : REALIZATION: This weakness is caused during implementation of an architectural security tactic.
Implementation : When the product uses certificate pinning, the developer might not properly validate all relevant components of the certificate before pinning the certificate. This can make it difficult or expensive to test after the pinning is complete.

Applicable Platforms

Language

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Technologies

Class: Mobile (Undetermined)

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
Integrity
Authentication		Bypass Protection Mechanism, Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Observed Examples

Reference Description
CVE-2019-12496A Go framework for robotics, drones, and IoT devices skips verification of root CA certificates by default.
CVE-2014-1266chain: incorrect "goto" in Apple SSL product bypasses certificate validation, allowing Adversary-in-the-Middle (AITM) attack (Apple "goto fail" bug). CWE-705 (Incorrect Control Flow Scoping) -> CWE-561 (Dead Code) -> CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation) -> CWE-393 (Return of Wrong Status Code) -> CWE-300 (Channel Accessible by Non-Endpoint).
CVE-2021-22909Chain: router's firmware update procedure uses curl with "-k" (insecure) option that disables certificate validation (CWE-295), allowing adversary-in-the-middle (AITM) compromise with a malicious firmware image (CWE-494).
CVE-2008-4989Verification function trusts certificate chains in which the last certificate is self-signed.
CVE-2012-5821Web browser uses a TLS-related function incorrectly, preventing it from verifying that a server's certificate is signed by a trusted certification authority (CA)
CVE-2009-3046Web browser does not check if any intermediate certificates are revoked.
CVE-2011-0199Operating system does not check Certificate Revocation List (CRL) in some cases, allowing spoofing using a revoked certificate.
CVE-2012-5810Mobile banking application does not verify hostname, leading to financial loss.
CVE-2012-3446Cloud-support library written in Python uses incorrect regular expression when matching hostname.
CVE-2009-2408Web browser does not correctly handle '\0' character (NUL) in Common Name, allowing spoofing of https sites.
CVE-2012-2993Smartphone device does not verify hostname, allowing spoofing of mail services.
CVE-2012-5822Application uses third-party library that does not validate hostname.
CVE-2012-5819Cloud storage management application does not validate hostname.
CVE-2012-5817Java library uses JSSE SSLSocket and SSLEngine classes, which do not verify the hostname.
CVE-2010-1378chain: incorrect calculation allows attackers to bypass certificate checks.
CVE-2005-3170LDAP client accepts certificates even if they are not from a trusted CA.
CVE-2009-0265chain: DNS server does not correctly check return value from the OpenSSL EVP_VerifyFinal function allows bypass of validation of the certificate chain.
CVE-2003-1229chain: product checks if client is trusted when it intended to check if the server is trusted, allowing validation of signed code.
CVE-2002-0862Cryptographic API, as used in web browsers, mail clients, and other software, does not properly validate Basic Constraints.
CVE-2009-1358chain: OS package manager does not check properly check the return value, allowing bypass using a revoked certificate.

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Architecture and Design // Implementation
Certificates should be carefully managed and checked to assure that data are encrypted with the intended owner's public key.
Phases : Implementation
If certificate pinning is being used, ensure that all relevant properties of the certificate are fully validated before the certificate is pinned, including the hostname.

Detection Methods

Automated Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Cost effective for partial coverage:
  • Bytecode Weakness Analysis - including disassembler + source code weakness analysis
  • Binary Weakness Analysis - including disassembler + source code weakness analysis

Effectiveness : SOAR Partial

Manual Static Analysis - Binary or Bytecode

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Cost effective for partial coverage:
  • Binary / Bytecode disassembler - then use manual analysis for vulnerabilities & anomalies

Effectiveness : SOAR Partial

Dynamic Analysis with Automated Results Interpretation

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Cost effective for partial coverage:
  • Web Application Scanner

Effectiveness : SOAR Partial

Dynamic Analysis with Manual Results Interpretation

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Highly cost effective:
  • Man-in-the-middle attack tool

Effectiveness : High

Manual Static Analysis - Source Code

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Highly cost effective:
  • Focused Manual Spotcheck - Focused manual analysis of source
  • Manual Source Code Review (not inspections)

Effectiveness : High

Automated Static Analysis - Source Code

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Cost effective for partial coverage:
  • Source code Weakness Analyzer
  • Context-configured Source Code Weakness Analyzer

Effectiveness : SOAR Partial

Architecture or Design Review

According to SOAR, the following detection techniques may be useful:

Highly cost effective:
  • Inspection (IEEE 1028 standard) (can apply to requirements, design, source code, etc.)

Effectiveness : High

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Rationale : This CWE entry is at the Base level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Comments : Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-459 Creating a Rogue Certification Authority Certificate
An adversary exploits a weakness resulting from using a hashing algorithm with weak collision resistance to generate certificate signing requests (CSR) that contain collision blocks in their "to be signed" parts. The adversary submits one CSR to be signed by a trusted certificate authority then uses the signed blob to make a second certificate appear signed by said certificate authority. Due to the hash collision, both certificates, though different, hash to the same value and so the signed blob works just as well in the second certificate. The net effect is that the adversary's second X.509 certificate, which the Certification Authority has never seen, is now signed and validated by that Certification Authority.
CAPEC-475 Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation
An adversary exploits a cryptographic weakness in the signature verification algorithm implementation to generate a valid signature without knowing the key.

References

REF-243

Why Eve and Mallory Love Android: An Analysis of Android SSL (In)Security
Sascha Fahl, Marian Harbach, Thomas Muders, Matthew Smith, Lars Baumgärtner, Bernd Freisleben.
http://www2.dcsec.uni-hannover.de/files/android/p50-fahl.pdf

REF-244

Computer Security: Art and Science
M. Bishop.

Submission

Name Organization Date Date Release Version
CWE Community 2006-07-19 +00:00 2006-07-19 +00:00 Draft 3

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
Veracode 2008-08-15 +00:00 Suggested OWASP Top Ten 2004 mapping
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-09-08 +00:00 updated Relationships, Taxonomy_Mappings
CWE Content Team MITRE 2008-10-14 +00:00 updated Background_Details, Description
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-05-11 +00:00 updated Related_Attack_Patterns
CWE Content Team MITRE 2012-12-28 +00:00 Converted from category to weakness class.
CWE Content Team MITRE 2013-02-21 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Common_Consequences, Description, Name, Observed_Examples, Potential_Mitigations, References, Relationships, Time_of_Introduction, Type
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-06-23 +00:00 updated Observed_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-07-30 +00:00 updated Detection_Factors
CWE Content Team MITRE 2015-12-07 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-01-19 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Modes_of_Introduction, References, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2018-03-27 +00:00 updated Background_Details, Modes_of_Introduction, Potential_Mitigations, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-06-20 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-09-19 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Demonstrative_Examples, Description, Observed_Examples, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-08-20 +00:00 updated Related_Attack_Patterns
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-07-20 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples, Observed_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2021-10-28 +00:00 updated Observed_Examples, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-04-28 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-10-13 +00:00 updated Observed_Examples, References
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-01-31 +00:00 updated Description, Modes_of_Introduction
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes

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