719
Mapped Taxonomy Name Node ID Fit Mapped Node Name
OWASP Top Ten 2004 A10 CWE More Specific Insecure Configuration Management
Related Attack Patterns
CAPEC-ID Attack Pattern Name
459 Creating a Rogue Certification Authority Certificate
475 Signature Spoofing by Improper Validation
References
[REF-243]Sascha Fahl, Marian Harbach, Thomas Muders, Matthew Smith and Lars Baumgärtner,
Bernd Freisleben. "Why Eve and Mallory Love Android: An Analysis of Android SSL (In)Security".
2012 October 6. < http://www2.dcsec.uni-hannover.de/files/android/p50-fahl.pdf >.
[REF-244]M. Bishop. "Computer Security: Art and Science". 2003. Addison-Wesley.
CWE-296: Improper Following of a Certificate's Chain of Trust
Weakness ID : 296
Structure : Simple
Abstraction : Base
Description
The product does not follow, or incorrectly follows, the chain of trust for a certificate back to a
trusted root certificate, resulting in incorrect trust of any resource that is associated with that
certificate.
Extended Description
If a system does not follow the chain of trust of a certificate to a root server, the certificate loses
all usefulness as a metric of trust. Essentially, the trust gained from a certificate is derived from a
chain of trust -- with a reputable trusted entity at the end of that list. The end user must trust that
reputable source, and this reputable source must vouch for the resource in question through the
medium of the certificate.
In some cases, this trust traverses several entities who vouch for one another. The entity trusted
by the end user is at one end of this trust chain, while the certificate-wielding resource is at the
other end of the chain. If the user receives a certificate at the end of one of these trust chains and
then proceeds to check only that the first link in the chain, no real trust has been derived, since the
entire chain must be traversed back to a trusted source to verify the certificate.
There are several ways in which the chain of trust might be broken, including but not limited to:
• Any certificate in the chain is self-signed, unless it the root.
• Not every intermediate certificate is checked, starting from the original certificate all the way
up to the root certificate.
• An intermediate, CA-signed certificate does not have the expected Basic Constraints or other
important extensions.
• The root certificate has been compromised or authorized to the wrong party.
Relationships
The table(s) below shows the weaknesses and high level categories that are related to this
weakness. These relationships are defined as ChildOf, ParentOf, MemberOr and give insight to
similar items that may exist at higher and lower levels of abstraction. In addition, relationships such
as PeerOf and CanAlsoBe are defined to show similar weaknesses that may want to be explored.
Relevant to the view "Research Concepts" (CWE-1000)
CWE Version 4.14
CWE-296: Improper Following of a Certificate's Chain of Trust
CWE-296: Improper Following of a Certificate's Chain of Trust