CVE-2026-96375 in Cloud
Summary
by MITRE • 10/22/2026
Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in Drupal Cloud allows Adversary in the Middle (AiTM). This issue affects Cloud versions: from 0.0.0 to 7.0.1.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/22/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical failure in cryptographic validation within the Drupal Cloud module, specifically affecting version ranges from 0.0.0 through 7.0.1. This flaw stems from an improper implementation of certificate pinning or chain verification during secure communications between the client application and backend services. In standard security architecture, TLS certificates serve as digital identities that authenticate the server to the client, ensuring data integrity and confidentiality. When a module fails to rigorously validate these certificates against trusted root authorities or ignores expiration dates and hostname mismatches, it creates an opening for network-based attacks. The specific consequence of this deficiency is the enablement of Adversary in the Middle scenarios, where an attacker can intercept, decrypt, and potentially modify traffic without detection by the application layer.
From a technical perspective, the root cause lies in the handling of SSL/TLS handshakes within the module's HTTP client implementation. By not enforcing strict certificate validation rules, such as checking for valid signatures from trusted Certificate Authorities or verifying that the presented certificate matches the expected domain name, the software accepts any valid-looking TLS connection regardless of its authenticity. This allows an attacker positioned on the network path to perform a Man-in-the-Middle attack using self-signed certificates or compromised intermediate CA certificates. The application establishes what it believes is a secure encrypted channel with the server, while in reality, all data transmitted through this tunnel is visible and manipulable by the adversary who controls the interception point.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, particularly given Drupal's widespread use as a content management system handling sensitive user data, administrative credentials, and proprietary business information. An attacker leveraging this flaw can perform session hijacking by capturing authentication tokens or cookies transmitted over the insecure channel. Furthermore, they can inject malicious scripts into web pages served through the application, leading to Cross-Site Scripting attacks against end-users who trust the site's domain. In more sophisticated scenarios, the adversary could modify API responses before they reach the client, altering content or injecting malware payloads without triggering standard security warnings in modern browsers that might otherwise detect certificate errors if properly configured at the OS level rather than within the application logic itself.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-295 Improper Certificate Validation and is directly exploitable via MITM techniques categorized under ATT&CK tactic TA0040: Collection, specifically referencing data interception methods such as Network Sniffing or Credential Harvesting through Man-in-the-Middle attacks. The lack of proper validation means that even if the underlying operating system has valid certificates installed, the application bypasses these checks, rendering OS-level protections ineffective for this specific communication channel. This discrepancy highlights a common pitfall in mobile and web applications where developers assume network security is solely managed by the platform rather than implementing defense-in-depth strategies within the codebase.
To mitigate this risk, immediate action must be taken to upgrade the Drupal Cloud module to version 7.0.2 or any subsequent release that addresses these validation flaws. If upgrading is not immediately feasible due to compatibility constraints with legacy systems, administrators should implement network-level controls such as strict firewall rules that restrict outbound connections only to known and trusted IP ranges, thereby reducing the attack surface for interception attempts. Additionally, enabling HTTP Strict Transport Security headers where applicable can help enforce secure connections at the browser level, although this does not fully compensate for application-layer flaws in non-browser clients. Regular security audits focusing on cryptographic implementations are essential to ensure that certificate validation logic remains robust against evolving threats and bypass techniques used by advanced persistent threats seeking to compromise organizational data integrity.