CWE-370

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: Medium
Missing Check for Certificate Revocation after Initial Check

Description

The product does not check the revocation status of a certificate after its initial revocation check, which can cause the product to perform privileged actions even after the certificate is revoked at a later time.

If the revocation status of a certificate is not checked before each action that requires privileges, the system may be subject to a race condition. If a certificate is revoked after the initial check, all subsequent actions taken with the owner of the revoked certificate will lose all benefits guaranteed by the certificate. In fact, it is almost certain that the use of a revoked certificate indicates malicious activity.

Consequences

Access Control — Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Trust may be assigned to an entity who is not who it claims to be.

Integrity — Modify Application Data

Data from an untrusted (and possibly malicious) source may be integrated.

Confidentiality — Read Application Data

Data may be disclosed to an entity impersonating a trusted entity, resulting in information disclosure.

Mitigations

Phase: Architecture and Design

Ensure that certificates are checked for revoked status before each use of a protected resource. If the certificate is checked before each access of a protected resource, the delay subject to a possible race condition becomes almost negligible and significantly reduces the risk associated with this issue.