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Network traffic encrypted using RSA-based SSL certificates over SSLv2 may be decrypted by the DROWN attack

Vulnerability Note VU#583776

Original Release Date: 2016-03-01 | Last Revised: 2016-03-14

Overview

Network traffic encrypted using an RSA-based SSL certificate may be decrypted if enough SSLv2 handshake data can be collected. This is known as the "DROWN" attack in the media.

Description

According to the researcher, "DROWN" is a new form of cross-protocol Bleichenbacher padding oracle attack. An attacker using "DROWN" may obtain the session key from a vulnerable server supporting SSLv2 and use it to decrypt any traffic encrypted using the shared certificate.

It allows an attacker to decrypt intercepted TLS connections by making specially crafted connections to an SSLv2 server that uses the same private key."

The SSLv2 protocol is the only protocol directly impacted; however, the researcher's website states that many servers may use a shared certificate between the SSLv2 and the newer TLS protocols. If so, if the certificate is decrypted via SSLv2, then the TLS protocol using the shared certificate can be decrypted as well. The attack requires approximately 1000 SSL handshakes to be intercepted for the attack to be effective.

The researchers have also released a DROWN attack check tool and an FAQ that provides more complete information.

Impact

A remote attacker may be able to decrypt individual messages/sessions of a server supporting SSLv2. Servers using TLS protocol with the same shared certificate as is used for SSLv2 may also be vulnerable. According to the DROWN FAQ, the server private key is not obtained from this attack.

Solution

Disable SSLv2

Network administrators should disable SSLv2 support. The researchers have provided more information on how to disable SSLv2 for various server products.

SSLv2 has been deprecated since 2011.

Do not reuse SSL certificates or key material

This issue can be mitigated on TLS connections by using unique SSL keys and certificates. If possible, do not reuse key material or certificates between SSLv2 and TLS support on multiple servers.

Monitor network and use firewall rules

We recommend enabling firewall rules to block SSLv2 traffic. Since the attack requires approximately 1000 SSL handshakes, network administrators may also monitor logs to look for repeated connection attempts. However, this data may also be obtained via man-in-the-middle or other attacks, not solely from direct connections.

Vendor Information

On Linux, nginx may or may be affected depending on what version of OpenSSL nginx was compiled with. See the vendor list below or contact your vendor to determine if your release of nginx is affected.

583776
 

ECSystems.nl Affected

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Statement Date:   March 10, 2016

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

"Our version comes with a preferred cipher list which has mitigated SSLv2 issues since march 2015, our latest version 1.9.13.1 was released on 2 march 2016 with Openssl 1.0.2g which has the additional fix(es) for VU#583776."

Vendor Information

ECSystems.nl supports NGINX for Windows

Vendor References

OpenSSL Affected

Updated:  March 02, 2016

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

OpenSSL 1.0.2g and 1.0.1s have been released to address this vulnerability. Please see OpenSSL's security advisory at the URL below.

A 3rd-party tool http://testssl.sh/ is available to check for security issues, including this one.

Another option for network administrators to determine if a server supports SSLv2 is to use the following command:

openssl s_client -connect host:443 -ssl2

If certificate information is returned, then SSLv2 is supported. It has been reported that this command may not work on Ubuntu or Debian systems.

Vendor References

Apache-SSL Unknown

Updated:  March 01, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

CentOS Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Debian GNU/Linux Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Microsoft Corporation Unknown

Updated:  March 01, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Mozilla Unknown

Updated:  March 01, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Postfix Unknown

Updated:  March 01, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Red Hat, Inc. Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

SUSE Linux Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Ubuntu Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

nginx Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

nginx may or may be affected depending on what version of OpenSSL it was compiled with. Contact your vendor to determine if your release of nginx is affected.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.

openSUSE project Unknown

Updated:  March 14, 2016

Status

Unknown

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

We are not aware of further vendor information regarding this vulnerability.

View all 13 vendors View less vendors


CVSS Metrics

Group Score Vector
Base 7.1 AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N
Temporal 6.1 E:POC/RL:W/RC:C
Environmental 6.5 CDP:ND/TD:H/CR:H/IR:H/AR:ND

References

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Nimrod Aviram for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Garret Wassermann.

Other Information

CVE IDs: CVE-2016-0800
Date Public: 2016-03-01
Date First Published: 2016-03-01
Date Last Updated: 2016-03-14 15:55 UTC
Document Revision: 76

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