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Improper Certificate Validation

CVE-2021-20327

Medium
6.8/10

Summary

A specific version of the Node.js mongodb-client-encryption module does not perform correct validation of the KMS server’s certificate. This vulnerability in combination with a privileged network position active MITM attack could result in interception of traffic between the Node.js driver and the KMS service rendering client-side field level encryption (CSFLE) ineffective. This issue was discovered during internal testing and affects mongodb-client-encryption module version 1.2.0, which was available from 2021-Jan-29 and deprecated in the NPM Registry on 2021-Feb-04. This vulnerability does not impact driver traffic payloads with CSFLE-supported key services from applications residing inside the AWS, GCP, and Azure nework fabrics due to compensating controls in these environments. This issue does not impact driver workloads that don’t use Field Level Encryption.

  • HIGH
  • ADJACENT_NETWORK
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • NONE
  • HIGH
  • 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