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Improper Certificate Validation

CVE-2016-9064

Medium
5.9/10

Summary

Add-on updates failed to verify that the add-on ID inside the signed package matched the ID of the add-on being updated. An attacker who could perform a man-in-the-middle attack on the user's connection to the update server and defeat the certificate pinning protection could provide a malicious signed add-on instead of a valid update. This vulnerability affects Firefox ESR < 45.5 and Firefox < 50.

  • HIGH
  • NETWORK
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • NONE

CWE-295 - Improper Certificate Validation

The authenticity component of a web system stems from the ability to validate “Digital certificates”, which (i) establish trust between two or more entities sharing data over a network; (ii) ensure data at rest and transit is secure from unauthorized access; and (iii) check the identity of the actors that interact with the system. An application with absent or ineffective certificate validation mechanisms allows malicious users, impersonating trusted hosts, to manipulate the communication path between the client and the host, resulting in unauthorized access to data and to the application’s internal environment, and potentially enabling man-in-the-middle attacks.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published