CVE-2004-0758 in Mozilla
Summary
by MITRE
Mozilla 1.5 through 1.7 allows a CA certificate to be imported even when their DN is the same as that of the built-in CA root certificate, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service to SSL pages because the malicious certificate is treated as invalid.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/16/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2004-0758 represents a significant flaw in the certificate validation mechanism of Mozilla 1.5 through 1.7 web browsers. This issue stems from the browser's improper handling of certificate authority certificates during the import process, specifically when duplicate distinguished names (DN) are encountered. The flaw allows malicious actors to exploit the certificate management system by importing a CA certificate that shares the exact same distinguished name as an existing built-in root certificate. This vulnerability operates under the principle that certificate validation should maintain strict uniqueness of certificate authorities to prevent conflicts in trust chain establishment. The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the certificate store's validation logic which fails to properly enforce certificate uniqueness constraints when processing imported certificates, creating a scenario where the system cannot distinguish between legitimate and malicious certificates with identical identifiers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple certificate management issues to potentially compromise the integrity of secure communications. When a malicious certificate with a duplicate DN is imported, the browser's SSL validation process becomes confused and treats the certificate as invalid, leading to denial of service conditions on secure web pages. This occurs because the browser's trust model becomes compromised when it encounters conflicting certificate authorities with identical identifiers, causing the SSL connection establishment process to fail. The vulnerability creates a condition where legitimate SSL pages may become inaccessible due to the browser's inability to properly validate certificates in the presence of duplicate DNs, effectively rendering secure web communications unreliable. This issue directly affects the fundamental security model of web browsers, as it undermines the certificate validation process that is critical for establishing trust in secure communications.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-295 which addresses improper certificate validation and CWE-310 which covers cryptographic issues related to certificate handling. The attack vector leverages the certificate import functionality to create a denial of service condition, which can be categorized under the ATT&CK technique T1566 for credential harvesting and T1499 for network denial of service. The vulnerability demonstrates how improper certificate validation can lead to cascading failures in security systems, where a single flaw in certificate management can compromise the entire trust infrastructure of a browser. Organizations using affected Mozilla versions face significant risk as this vulnerability could be exploited to disrupt access to secure web services, potentially affecting financial transactions, healthcare records, and other sensitive communications that rely on SSL/TLS security protocols.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves immediate upgrade to Mozilla versions that address this certificate validation flaw, specifically versions beyond 1.7. Additionally, system administrators should implement certificate monitoring procedures to detect and prevent unauthorized certificate imports that could create duplicate DNs in the certificate store. Organizations should also consider implementing certificate pinning mechanisms where appropriate, and establish strict policies for certificate management that prevent the import of certificates with duplicate distinguished names. The vulnerability underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security software and implementing proper certificate lifecycle management processes. Regular security audits of certificate stores and validation processes should be conducted to identify potential conflicts that could lead to similar denial of service conditions. Network security teams should also monitor for anomalous certificate import activities that could indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability, as the attack requires successful certificate import operations to be effective.