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CWE-297 - Improper Validation of Certificate with Host Mismatch

CWE-297 High

  • Abstraction:
  • Variant
  • Structure:
  • Simple
  • Status:
  • Incomplete
Weakness Name

Improper Validation of Certificate with Host Mismatch

Description

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

Even if a certificate is well-formed, signed, and follows the chain of trust, it may simply be a valid certificate for a different site than the site that the product is interacting with. If the certificate's host-specific data is not properly checked - such as the Common Name (CN) in the Subject or the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) extension of an X.509 certificate - it may be possible for a redirection or spoofing attack to allow a malicious host with a valid certificate to provide data, impersonating a trusted host. In order to ensure data integrity, the certificate must be valid and it must pertain to the site that is being accessed. Even if the product attempts to check the hostname, it is still possible to incorrectly check the hostname. For example, attackers could create a certificate with a name that begins with a trusted name followed by a NUL byte, which could cause some string-based comparisons to only examine the portion that contains the trusted name. This weakness can occur even when the product uses Certificate Pinning, if the product does not verify the hostname at the time a certificate is pinned.

Common Consequences

Scope: Access Control

Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

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

Scope: Authentication, Other

Impact: Other

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

Related Weaknesses
  • Release Date:
  • 2006-07-19
  • Latest Modification Date:
  • 2023-06-29

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