CVE-2016-5672 in Crosswalk
Summary
by MITRE
Intel Crosswalk before 19.49.514.5, 20.x before 20.50.533.11, 21.x before 21.51.546.0, and 22.x before 22.51.549.0 interprets a user's acceptance of one invalid X.509 certificate to mean that all invalid X.509 certificates should be accepted without prompting, which makes it easier for man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers and obtain sensitive information via a crafted certificate.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/28/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-5672 affects Intel Crosswalk versions prior to specific patch releases, representing a critical certificate validation flaw that undermines secure communication protocols. This issue resides within the X.509 certificate handling mechanism where the software exhibits a dangerous behavioral pattern that significantly weakens security controls. The vulnerability stems from an improper state management approach during certificate validation processes, where the system fails to properly isolate validation decisions for individual certificates.
The technical flaw manifests when a user encounters an invalid X.509 certificate and chooses to accept it for a specific connection. Rather than maintaining this acceptance as a per-certificate decision, the system erroneously applies this user choice to all subsequent invalid certificates encountered within the same session. This creates a persistent trust relationship that bypasses normal security checks and validation procedures. The underlying mechanism operates through a flawed certificate trust model that does not properly implement certificate-specific validation states, creating a cascading effect where a single user acceptance decision propagates across multiple certificate validations.
This vulnerability significantly impacts operational security by enabling sophisticated man-in-the-middle attacks that would otherwise be prevented by proper certificate validation controls. Attackers can exploit this weakness by presenting crafted certificates that initially appear invalid to the system, causing users to accept them. Once accepted, these certificates become trusted for all subsequent connections, allowing attackers to impersonate legitimate SSL servers and intercept sensitive communications. The impact extends beyond simple data interception to include potential credential theft, session hijacking, and unauthorized access to protected resources.
The operational consequences of this vulnerability are severe and far-reaching, particularly in environments where secure communication is paramount. Organizations using affected Intel Crosswalk versions face increased risk of data breaches, regulatory compliance violations, and loss of confidential information. The vulnerability affects the fundamental trust model of SSL/TLS communications, potentially compromising the integrity of all encrypted connections established through the affected software. Security teams must recognize that this issue represents a configuration management failure that undermines the entire certificate validation infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patching of affected Intel Crosswalk installations to the latest secure versions that address the certificate validation logic. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring to detect any unauthorized certificate acceptance patterns and establish strict certificate validation policies that prevent automatic trust propagation. Network administrators should deploy additional security controls including certificate pinning, enhanced monitoring of SSL connections, and regular security assessments to identify potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-250 and CWE-310 categories related to improper certificate validation and cryptographic weakness, while also mapping to ATT&CK techniques involving credential access and defense evasion through trusted relationship exploitation.
Security professionals must understand that this vulnerability represents a fundamental flaw in certificate trust management that requires immediate remediation. The risk assessment should include comprehensive testing of certificate validation behaviors and implementation of additional security layers to protect against exploitation. Organizations should also consider implementing certificate transparency mechanisms and regular security audits to ensure that similar vulnerabilities are not present in other components of their security infrastructure. The remediation process should include thorough validation of certificate handling procedures and establishment of proper logging and alerting for certificate acceptance events.