Wget: Certificate validation error

1. Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

Advisory Reference	GLSA 200910-01 / wget
Release Date	October 20, 2009
Latest Revision	October 20, 2009: 01
Impact	normal
Exploitable	remote

Package	Vulnerable versions	Unaffected versions	Architecture(s)
net-misc/wget	< 1.12	>= 1.12	All supported architectures

Related bugreports: #286058

Synopsis

An error in the X.509 certificate handling of Wget might enable remote attackers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks.

2. Impact Information

Background

GNU Wget is a free software package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS and FTP, the most widely-used Internet protocols.

Description

The vendor reported that Wget does not properly handle Common Name (CN) fields in X.509 certificates that contain an ASCII NUL (\0) character. Specifically, the processing of such fields is stopped at the first occurrence of a NUL character. This type of vulnerability was recently discovered by Dan Kaminsky and Moxie Marlinspike.

Impact

A remote attacker might employ a specially crafted X.509 certificate, containing a NUL character in the Common Name field to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks on SSL connections made using Wget.

3. Resolution Information

Workaround

There is no known workaround at this time.

Resolution

All Wget users should upgrade to the latest version:

Code Listing 3.1: Resolution

# emerge --sync
# emerge --ask --oneshot --verbose ">=net-misc/wget-1.12"

4. References

CVE-2009-3490

Updated October 20, 2009

Summary: This is a Gentoo Linux Security Advisory

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