CVE-2014-0092: Medium severity GNU GnuTLS vulnerability

Published Feb 25, 2014
·
Updated

It was discovered that GnuTLS X.509 certificate verification code failed to properly handle certain errors that can occur during the certificate verification. When such errors are encountered, GnuTLS would report successful verification of the certificate, even though verification should end with failure. A specially-crafted certificate can be accepted by GnuTLS as valid even if it wasn't issued by any trusted Certificate Authority. This can be used to perform man-in-the-middle attacks against applications using GnuTLS.

Other sources

lib/x509/verify.c in GnuTLS before 3.1.22 and 3.2.x before 3.2.12 does not properly handle unspecified errors when verifying X.509 certificates from SSL servers, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof servers via a crafted certificate.

MITRE

Affected Software

37 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/gnutls<3.1.22
3.1.22
redhat/gnutls<3.2.12
3.2.12
GNU GnuTLS<=3.2.11
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.0
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.1
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.2
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.3
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.4
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.5
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.6
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.7
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.8
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.8.1
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.9
GNU GnuTLS=3.2.10
GNU GnuTLS<=3.1.21
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.0
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.1
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.2
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.3
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.4
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.5
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.6
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.7
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.8
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.9
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.10
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.11
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.12
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.13
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.14
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.15
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.16
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.17
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.18
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.19
GNU GnuTLS=3.1.20

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/gnutls to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 3.1.22
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/gnutls to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 3.2.12

Event History

Mar 6, 2014
CVE Published
via MITRE·06:00 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·06:00 PM
Description
Mar 7, 2014
Data Sourced
via NVD·12:10 AM
DescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2014-0092?

CVE-2014-0092 is rated as a high severity vulnerability due to improper handling of errors during X.509 certificate verification in GnuTLS.

2

How do I fix CVE-2014-0092?

To fix CVE-2014-0092, upgrade GnuTLS to version 3.1.22 or later for the 3.1.x branch, or version 3.2.12 or later for the 3.2.x branch.

3

Which versions of GnuTLS are affected by CVE-2014-0092?

GnuTLS versions up to and including 3.1.21 and 3.2.11 are affected by CVE-2014-0092.

4

What could happen if CVE-2014-0092 is exploited?

Exploiting CVE-2014-0092 could allow an attacker to successfully verify a fraudulent certificate, compromising secure communications.

5

Is there a workaround for CVE-2014-0092?

There are no specific workarounds for CVE-2014-0092, so updating to a fixed version is strongly recommended.

Contact

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