CVE-2002-0420 in PureTLS
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in PureTLS before 0.9b2 related to injection attacks, which could possibly allow remote attackers to corrupt or hijack user sessions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/18/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2002-0420 affects PureTLS versions prior to 09b2, representing a significant security flaw in secure communication protocols. This issue falls under the category of injection attacks, where malicious actors can exploit weaknesses in the TLS implementation to manipulate session data. The vulnerability specifically targets the way PureTLS handles cryptographic operations and session management, creating opportunities for remote attackers to compromise user sessions through carefully crafted malicious inputs.
The technical implementation flaw resides in PureTLS's insufficient validation and sanitization of data during the TLS handshake process and subsequent session operations. When processing encrypted communications, the software fails to properly validate input parameters, allowing attackers to inject malicious data that can corrupt session state information. This weakness enables attackers to potentially hijack active user sessions by manipulating the cryptographic handshake process or by injecting forged session identifiers. The vulnerability demonstrates characteristics consistent with CWE-94, which describes weaknesses in code that allow for the execution of arbitrary code or commands, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1071.004 for application layer protocol manipulation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data corruption, as it fundamentally compromises the integrity and confidentiality of secure communications. Remote attackers can leverage this weakness to perform session hijacking attacks, where they gain unauthorized access to user sessions and potentially escalate privileges within affected applications. The vulnerability affects systems that rely on PureTLS for secure communication, potentially exposing sensitive user data, authentication tokens, and session information to unauthorized access. Given that this vulnerability existed in versions prior to 09b2, organizations using older implementations face significant risk of session compromise and data breaches.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2002-0420 primarily involve upgrading to PureTLS version 09b2 or later, which includes proper input validation and sanitization measures. Security administrators should also implement network monitoring to detect anomalous session behavior and potential injection attempts. Additional protective measures include implementing proper session management controls, such as short session timeouts and secure session token generation. Organizations should conduct vulnerability assessments to identify systems running affected PureTLS versions and ensure comprehensive patch management processes are in place. The remediation aligns with industry best practices for secure coding and follows the principle of least privilege, ensuring that applications validate all inputs and properly handle cryptographic operations to prevent injection-based attacks.