CVE-2012-5795 in PayPal Express module
Summary
by MITRE
The PayPal Express module in osCommerce does not verify that the server hostname matches a domain name in the subject s Common Name (CN) or subjectAltName field of the X.509 certificate, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via an arbitrary valid certificate.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/07/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2012-5795 resides within the PayPal Express module of the osCommerce e-commerce platform, representing a critical SSL certificate validation flaw that fundamentally undermines the security of online transactions. This weakness specifically targets the SSL/TLS certificate verification process, where the system fails to properly validate the server identity against the certificate presented during secure communications. The flaw enables attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting any valid SSL certificate, regardless of whether it matches the actual server's domain name, thereby breaking the trust mechanism that SSL/TLS is designed to establish.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper implementation of certificate hostname validation within the osCommerce PayPal Express integration. When establishing secure connections to PayPal's servers, the system should verify that the certificate's Common Name or Subject Alternative Name fields contain a domain name that matches the server being connected to. However, this validation is completely bypassed, allowing attackers to intercept and manipulate SSL traffic between the osCommerce store and PayPal's payment processing infrastructure. This vulnerability directly corresponds to CWE-295, which specifically addresses improper certificate validation in SSL/TLS implementations, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1573.002 for securing communications channels through improper certificate validation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe for online merchants utilizing osCommerce platforms, as it creates an attack surface that enables sophisticated man-in-the-middle attacks capable of capturing sensitive payment information, user credentials, and transaction data. Attackers can exploit this weakness to redirect users to malicious servers while maintaining the appearance of legitimate secure connections, potentially leading to financial fraud, data breaches, and complete loss of customer trust in the affected e-commerce platform. The vulnerability affects any version of osCommerce that includes the PayPal Express module and has been operational since the module's initial implementation, making it a persistent threat across multiple platform versions.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2012-5795 require immediate attention from system administrators and security teams managing osCommerce installations. The primary solution involves patching the affected PayPal Express module to implement proper SSL certificate hostname validation, ensuring that the server's hostname matches the certificate's Common Name or Subject Alternative Name fields. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security measures such as certificate pinning, network-level monitoring for suspicious SSL connections, and regular security audits of third-party integrations. System administrators must also ensure that all web servers maintain up-to-date SSL/TLS configurations and that certificate validation is enforced at multiple layers of the security infrastructure to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in other components of the payment processing chain.