CVE-2018-6517: Chloride Improper Certificate Validation Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-573x-jhqh-jg36
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-295
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2018-6517 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) improper certificate validation vulnerability (CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation) affecting Chloride libraries in the RubyGems ecosystem. The issue involves improper certificate validation in chloride. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.3.0.

CVE-2018-6517 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2018-6517
GHSA Identifier GHSA-573x-jhqh-jg36
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation
Affected Product Chloride
Package Ecosystem RubyGems
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

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

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

How to Fix CVE-2018-6517

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

chloride fixed: 0.3.0 
Upgrade chloride to 0.3.0
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 chloride

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2018-6517, inspect your project dependencies for Chloride:

inspect dependencies for chloride

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Chloride in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.3.0), 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 Chloride, 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

Prior to version 0.3.0, chloride's use of net-ssh resulted in host fingerprints for previously unknown hosts getting added to the user's known_hosts file without confirmation. In version 0.3.0 this is updated so that the user's known_hosts file is not updated by chloride.

CVE-2018-6517 Affected Chloride Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.3.0
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
chloride
gem/chloride
RubyGems
< 0.3.0
0.3.0

References

NVD — CVE-2018-6517 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-6517
Chloride Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/chloride/CVE-2018-6517.yml
Chloride Security Information SECURITY
https://puppet.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6517
Chloride Security Information SECURITY
https://web.archive.org/web/20201001014342/https://puppet.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6517

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2018-6517?
CVE-2018-6517 is a security vulnerability in Chloride involving Improper Certificate Validation in chloride under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation.
Which Chloride versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.3.0 across affected packages: chloride.
What version fixes CVE-2018-6517?
Upgrading to 0.3.0 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is chloride affected?
Yes, chloride is affected in releases prior to 0.3.0. Upgrade your dependency to 0.3.0 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-6517?
CVE-2018-6517 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2018-6517?
CVE-2018-6517 is classified under CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation (The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.).
How can I check RubyGems dependencies for CVE-2018-6517?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for chloride'. 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-573x-jhqh-jg36",
  "modified" : "2022-09-17T00:57:41Z",
  "published" : "2019-03-25T16:16:27Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2018-6517" ],
  "summary" : "Improper Certificate Validation in chloride",
  "details" : "Prior to version 0.3.0, chloride's use of net-ssh resulted in host fingerprints for previously unknown hosts getting added to the user's known_hosts file without confirmation. In version 0.3.0 this is updated so that the user's known_hosts file is not updated by chloride.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "RubyGems",
      "name" : "chloride"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.3.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-6517"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/chloride/CVE-2018-6517.yml"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://puppet.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6517"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://web.archive.org/web/20201001014342/https://puppet.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6517"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-295" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2020-06-16T21:00:14Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2019-03-21T16:00:56Z"
  }
}