CVE-2016-10931: Openssl Improper Certificate Validation Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-34p9-f4q3-c4r7
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CVSS 8.1
CWE-295
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2016-10931 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.1) improper certificate validation vulnerability (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation) affecting Openssl libraries in the crates.io ecosystem. The issue involves improper certificate validation in openssl. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.9.0.

CVE-2016-10931 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2016-10931
GHSA Identifier GHSA-34p9-f4q3-c4r7
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 8.1
CWE Classification CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation
Affected Product Openssl
Package Ecosystem crates.io
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 8.1

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2016-10931

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Openssl dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

openssl fixed: 0.9.0 
Upgrade openssl to 0.9.0
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for openssl

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2016-10931, inspect your project dependencies for Openssl:

inspect dependencies for openssl

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Openssl in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.9.0), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation, where the product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate. In Openssl, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

All versions of rust-openssl prior to 0.9.0 contained numerous insecure defaults including off-by-default certificate verification and no API to perform hostname verification. Unless configured correctly by a developer, these defaults could allow an attacker to perform man-in-the-middle attacks. The problem was addressed in newer versions by enabling certificate verification by default and exposing APIs to perform hostname verification. Use the SslConnector and SslAcceptor types to take advantage of these new features (as opposed to the lower-level SslContext type).

CVE-2016-10931 Affected Openssl Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.9.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
openssl
 crates.io
< 0.9.0
0.9.0

References

NVD — CVE-2016-10931 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10931
Openssl Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/sfackler/rust-openssl
Openssl Release RELEASE
https://github.com/sfackler/rust-openssl/releases/tag/v0.9.0
rustsec.org/advisories/rustsec-... WEB
https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2016-0001.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2016-10931?
CVE-2016-10931 is a security vulnerability in Openssl involving Improper Certificate Validation in openssl under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation.
Which Openssl versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.9.0 across affected packages: openssl.
What version fixes CVE-2016-10931?
Upgrading to 0.9.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is openssl affected?
Yes, openssl is affected in releases prior to 0.9.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.9.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-10931?
CVE-2016-10931 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-10931?
CVE-2016-10931 is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation (The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.).
How can I check crates.io dependencies for CVE-2016-10931?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for openssl'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-34p9-f4q3-c4r7",
  "modified" : "2023-06-13T20:14:09Z",
  "published" : "2021-08-25T20:43:11Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-10931" ],
  "summary" : "Improper Certificate Validation in openssl",
  "details" : "All versions of rust-openssl prior to 0.9.0 contained numerous insecure defaults including off-by-default certificate verification and no API to perform hostname verification. Unless configured correctly by a developer, these defaults could allow an attacker to perform man-in-the-middle attacks. The problem was addressed in newer versions by enabling certificate verification by default and exposing APIs to perform hostname verification. Use the SslConnector and SslAcceptor types to take advantage of these new features (as opposed to the lower-level SslContext type).",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "crates.io",
      "name" : "openssl"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.9.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10931"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/sfackler/rust-openssl"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/sfackler/rust-openssl/releases/tag/v0.9.0"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC-2016-0001.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-295" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2021-08-19T21:25:06Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2019-08-26T12:15:00Z"
  }
}