CVE-2017-4981 in RSA BSAFE Cert-C
Summary
by MITRE
EMC RSA BSAFE Cert-C before 2.9.0.5 contains a potential improper certificate processing vulnerability.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/28/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-4981 affects EMC RSA BSAFE Cert-C library versions prior to 2.9.0.5, representing a critical weakness in certificate processing functionality that could compromise the security of cryptographic operations. This issue resides within the certificate validation and processing mechanisms of the BSAFE library, which is widely used for implementing secure communication protocols in enterprise environments. The vulnerability stems from inadequate handling of malformed or improperly structured certificate data during the validation process, creating potential attack vectors that adversaries could exploit to bypass security controls.
The technical flaw manifests in the library's insufficient validation of X.509 certificate structures and their associated attributes during the certificate processing phase. When the Cert-C library encounters certificates with malformed extensions, unexpected field values, or unconventional encoding patterns, it fails to properly sanitize or reject these inputs before proceeding with cryptographic operations. This improper handling can lead to memory corruption issues, unexpected program behavior, or potentially allow attackers to inject malicious certificate data that appears valid to the system. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-248, which addresses improper exception handling in programs, and specifically relates to improper input validation within cryptographic libraries that process certificate data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple certificate validation failures, potentially enabling sophisticated attacks such as certificate spoofing, man-in-the-middle scenarios, or cryptographic downgrade attacks. Systems relying on the affected BSAFE library versions may experience unauthorized certificate trust decisions, allowing malicious actors to present forged certificates that could be accepted by vulnerable applications. This weakness particularly affects enterprise security infrastructure where certificate-based authentication is prevalent, including secure email systems, web servers, and secure communication protocols that depend on proper certificate validation. The vulnerability's exploitation could lead to complete compromise of encrypted communications and trust relationships within affected environments.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to BSAFE Cert-C version 2.9.0.5 or later to remediate this vulnerability, as no effective workarounds exist for the underlying certificate processing flaw. Security teams should conduct comprehensive inventory assessments to identify all systems utilizing the vulnerable library versions and prioritize remediation efforts based on risk exposure. The mitigation strategy should include implementing network monitoring to detect anomalous certificate behavior and establishing enhanced certificate validation procedures. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date cryptographic libraries and highlights the potential for seemingly minor certificate processing flaws to create significant security weaknesses in enterprise security infrastructures. Organizations should also consider implementing certificate transparency measures and additional validation layers to detect and prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in other cryptographic components.