Re: An SSL implementation weakness?

[The Deviant <deviant@pooh-corner.com>]

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On Fri, 9 Aug 1996 pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz wrote:

> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 05:12:56 (NZST)
> From: pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz
> To: cypherpunks@toad.com
> Subject: An SSL implementation weakness?
> 
> The following weakness seems very obvious, I've got a partial writeup of this 
> but before I turn it into a paper or something and arrange a demonstration of 
> how it would work I thought I'd check to make sure (a) someone else hasn't 
> mentioned it before, and (b) it is actually possible (it seems too simple to 
> be true):
>  
> 1. Using DNS spoofing, stage a hostile takeover of an address (for example 
>    using bogus referrals set yourself up as the delegated server for a DNS 
>    subtree).
> 2. Get a Verisign certificate for an arbitrary company and set up a bogus site 
>    at the stolen address.
>  
> Lets say you steal www.megafoobarcorp.com.  People connect to this site (which 
> is actually your bogus site), Netscape (for example) displays the blue line 
> and non-broken key (which is actually for your J.Random certificate rather 
> than the real megafoobarcorp one) to show the connection is secure, and you've 
> just subverted their site.  
>  
> The problem is that unless the user on the client side checks their 
> certificates (which noone does), all they're told is "A secure link is 
> established", not who the secure link is established to.  Even if browsers did 
> pop up a dialog to tell them who the secured connection was to, after about 
> the third time people would click on the "Never show this incredibly annoying 
> dialog again" option and never look at it again.     
>  
> This effectively reduces an attack on an SSL-enabled server to an attack on 
> the DNS.  Is this as simple as it seems, and is it worth doing a writeup on?
>  
> Peter.
> 

This certainly _looks_ like a viable hack on SSL...
of course, the other option is just hack Root on the _real_ server, and
steal their certificate (harder than I make it sound, but usually not to
complicated, assuming you can spoof IP and DNS, etc...)

 --Deviant
        "Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth."
        "Or by misleading the innocent."
                -- Spock and McCoy, "And The Children Shall Lead",
                   stardate 5029.5.


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