CWE-298

Variant Abstraction Level
Pillar — Highest-level weakness category
Class — Abstract, language-independent
Base — Specific enough to detect
Variant — Tied to specific technology
Compound — Requires multiple weaknesses Draft MITRE CWE Status
Stable — Fully reviewed and complete
Draft — Under development, may change
Incomplete — Partially defined by MITRE
Deprecated — No longer recommended
Obsolete — Replaced by another CWE Exploit: Low
Improper Validation of Certificate Expiration

Description

A certificate expiration is not validated or is incorrectly validated, so trust may be assigned to certificates that have been abandoned due to age.

When the expiration of a certificate is not taken into account, no trust has necessarily been conveyed through it. Therefore, the validity of the certificate cannot be verified and all benefit of the certificate is lost.

Consequences

Integrity, Other — Other

The data read from the system vouched for by the expired certificate may be flawed due to malicious spoofing.

Authentication, Other — Other

Trust afforded to the system in question - based on the expired certificate - may allow for spoofing attacks.

Mitigations

Phase: Architecture and Design

Check for expired certificates and provide the user with adequate information about the nature of the problem and how to proceed.

Phase: Implementation

If certificate pinning is being used, ensure that all relevant properties of the certificate are fully validated before the certificate is pinned, including the expiration.