Tag Archives: CVE-2012-5810

CWE-297 – Improper Validation of Certificate with Host Mismatch

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Description

The software communicates with a host that provides a certificate, but the software does not properly ensure that the certificate is actually associated with that host.

Modes of Introduction:

– Architecture and Design

 

Likelihood of Exploit: High

 

Related Weaknesses

CWE-923
CWE-295

 

Consequences

Access Control: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

The data read from the system vouched for by the certificate may not be from the expected system.

Authentication, Other: Other

Trust afforded to the system in question – based on the malicious certificate – may allow for spoofing or redirection attacks.

 

Potential Mitigations

Phase: Architecture and Design

Description: 

Fully check the hostname of the certificate and provide the user with adequate information about the nature of the problem and how to proceed.

Phase: Implementation

Description: 

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.

CVE References

  • CVE-2012-5810
    • Mobile banking application does not verify hostname, leading to financial loss.
  • CVE-2012-5811
    • Mobile application for printing documents does not verify hostname, allowing attackers to read sensitive documents.
  • CVE-2012-5807
    • Software for electronic checking does not verify hostname, leading to financial loss.
  • CVE-2012-3446
    • Cloud-support library written in Python uses incorrect regular expression when matching hostname.