CVE-2003-1005 in Mac OS X
Summary
by MITRE
The PKI functionality in Mac OS X 10.2.8 and 10.3.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (service crash) via malformed ASN.1 sequences.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/14/2017
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2003-1005 represents a critical flaw in the Public Key Infrastructure implementation within Mac OS X versions 10.2.8 and 10.3.2. This issue specifically targets the certificate processing mechanisms that are fundamental to secure communication protocols on the operating system. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the ASN.1 parsing routines that handle certificate data structures, creating an exploitable condition where malformed data can trigger unexpected behavior in the system's cryptographic services.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when the PKI subsystem attempts to parse ASN.1 encoded certificate data without proper bounds checking or data validation. ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation One) is a standard interface description language for defining data structures that can be serialized and deserialized in a platform-independent manner. When malformed ASN.1 sequences are encountered during certificate processing, the parsing functions fail to handle the unexpected data structure properly, leading to memory corruption or stack overflow conditions that cause the cryptographic services to crash. This behavior aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions, and CWE-122, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow issues that can occur during data processing.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the security posture of affected systems. When the PKI services crash, users lose access to certificate-based authentication mechanisms that are essential for secure web browsing, email encryption, and other cryptographic operations. Attackers can exploit this weakness to repeatedly crash certificate services, effectively rendering the system unable to perform secure communications until manual intervention or system restart occurs. This denial of service condition can be particularly damaging in enterprise environments where certificate-based authentication is critical for network access control and secure data transmission. The vulnerability also demonstrates characteristics consistent with attack patterns described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1499 category, which covers network denial of service attacks that target system services.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on both immediate patching and operational hardening measures. Apple released security updates that addressed the ASN.1 parsing issues in subsequent versions of Mac OS X, and organizations should prioritize applying these patches to eliminate the risk. System administrators should also implement monitoring solutions that can detect unusual service crash patterns related to certificate processing, as these may indicate exploitation attempts. Additional protective measures include configuring firewalls to limit access to certificate services, implementing certificate validation policies that include signature verification, and establishing redundant authentication mechanisms to maintain operational continuity during potential exploitation attempts. Network segmentation and privilege separation can further reduce the impact of potential exploitation by limiting the attack surface available to adversaries.