Vulnerability Note VU#520586

OpenSSL TLS handshake Denial of Service

Overview

A vulnerability exists in OpenSSL that may allow a remote attacker to cause a denial of service.

I. Description

OpenSSL contains a vulnerability in the way specially crafted TLS handshake packets are handled that may result in a denial of service. According to OpenSSL Security Advisory [28-Mar-2008]:

... if the 'Server Key exchange message' is omitted from a TLS handshake in OpenSSL 0.9.8f and OpenSSL 0.9.8g. If a client connects to a malicious server with particular cipher suites, the server could cause the client to crash.

Note that this issue may affect OpenSSL versions prior to 0.9.8h.

II. Impact

A remote, unauthorized attacker may be able to cause a denial of service.

III. Solution

Upgrade or Apply Patch

OpenSSL has issued an upgrade and a patch to address this issue. See OpenSSL Security Advisory [28-Mar-2008] for more information. OpenSSL is included in various Linux and UNIX distributions. Please consult the relevant documentation of your distribution to obtain the appropriate updates.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
OpenSSL	Vulnerable	30-May-2008

References

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/29405
http://cert.fi/haavoittuvuudet/2008/advisory-openssl.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/30405/
http://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20080528.txt

Credit

This issue was reported in OpenSSL Security Advisory [28-Mar-2008]. OpenSSL credits Codenomicon for reporting these issues.

This document was written by Chris Taschner.

Other Information

Date Public:	2008-05-28
Date First Published:	2008-05-30
Date Last Updated:	2008-05-30
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CVE-2008-1672
NVD-ID(s):	CVE-2008-1672
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	14.70
Document Revision:	8

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Produced 2008 by US-CERT, a government organization
Disclaimers and copyright information

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