CWE-599: Missing Validation of OpenSSL Certificate
Weakness ID: 599
Vulnerability Mapping:ALLOWEDThis CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities Abstraction:
VariantVariant - a weakness that is linked to a certain type of product, typically involving a specific language or technology. More specific than a Base weakness. Variant level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 3 to 5 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.
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Description
The product uses OpenSSL and trusts or uses a certificate without using the SSL_get_verify_result() function to ensure that the certificate satisfies all necessary security requirements.
Extended Description
This could allow an attacker to use an invalid certificate to claim to be a trusted host, use expired certificates, or conduct other attacks that could be detected if the certificate is properly validated.
Common Consequences
This table specifies different individual consequences
associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is
violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an
adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about
how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other
consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be
exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to
achieve a different impact.
Impact
Details
Read Application Data
Scope: Confidentiality
The data read may not be properly secured, it might be viewed by an attacker.
Bypass Protection Mechanism; Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Scope: Access Control
Trust afforded to the system in question may allow for spoofing or redirection attacks.
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Scope: Access Control
If the certificate is not checked, it may be possible for a redirection or spoofing attack to allow a malicious host with a valid certificate to provide data under the guise of a trusted host. While the attacker in question may have a valid certificate, it may simply be a valid certificate for a different site. In order to ensure data integrity, we must check that the certificate is valid, and that it pertains to the site we wish to access.
Potential Mitigations
Phase(s)
Mitigation
Architecture and Design
Ensure that proper authentication is included in the system design.
Implementation
Understand and properly implement all checks necessary to ensure the identity of entities involved in encrypted communications.
Relationships
This table shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this
weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOf and give insight to
similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition,
relationships such as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that the user
may want to explore.
Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (View-1000)
Nature
Type
ID
Name
ChildOf
Base - a weakness that is still mostly independent of a resource or technology, but with sufficient details to provide specific methods for detection and prevention. Base level weaknesses typically describe issues in terms of 2 or 3 of the following dimensions: behavior, property, technology, language, and resource.
The different Modes of Introduction provide information
about how and when this
weakness may be introduced. The Phase identifies a point in the life cycle at which
introduction
may occur, while the Note provides a typical scenario related to introduction during the
given
phase.
Phase
Note
Implementation
Demonstrative Examples
Example 1
The following OpenSSL code ensures that the host has a certificate.
(bad code)
Example Language: C
if (cert = SSL_get_peer_certificate(ssl)) {
// got certificate, host can be trusted
//foo=SSL_get_verify_result(ssl);
//if (X509_V_OK==foo) ...
}
Note that the code does not call SSL_get_verify_result(ssl), which effectively disables the validation step that checks the certificate.
Memberships
This MemberOf Relationships table shows additional CWE Categories and Views that
reference this weakness as a member. This information is often useful in understanding where a
weakness fits within the context of external information sources.
Nature
Type
ID
Name
MemberOf
Category - a CWE entry that contains a set of other entries that share a common characteristic.
(this CWE ID may be used to map to real-world vulnerabilities)
Reason
Acceptable-Use
Rationale
This CWE entry is at the Variant 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.
Notes
Relationship
CWE-295 and CWE-599 are very similar, although CWE-599 has a more narrow scope that is only applied to OpenSSL certificates. As a result, other children of CWE-295 can be regarded as children of CWE-599 as well. CWE's use of one-dimensional hierarchical relationships is not well-suited to handle different kinds of abstraction relationships based on concepts like types of resources ("OpenSSL certificate" as a child of "any certificate") and types of behaviors ("not validating expiration" as a child of "improper validation").
Content
History
Submissions
Submission Date
Submitter
Organization
2006-12-15
(CWE Draft 5, 2006-12-15)
CWE Community
Submitted by members of the CWE community to extend early CWE versions
Description
This table specifies different individual consequences
associated with the weakness. The Scope identifies the application security area that is
violated, while the Impact describes the negative technical impact that arises if an
adversary succeeds in exploiting this weakness. The Likelihood provides information about
how likely the specific consequence is expected to be seen relative to the other
consequences in the list. For example, there may be high likelihood that a weakness will be
exploited to achieve a certain impact, but a low likelihood that it will be exploited to
achieve a different impact.
