Six OpenSSL holes plugged

Padding Oracle Attack squashed.

OpenSSL has fixed vulnerabilities in its implementation of the Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) protocol that allowed secure communications to be decrypted.

The fix was one of six others contained in the latest versions of the OpenSSL library released this week.

The DTLS hole, detailed (pdf) by Kenny Paterson and Nadhem Alfardan under the 'Padding Oracle Attack'  allowed an attacker to view encrypted data in plain text.

Timing differences in the cipher-block chaining process allowed dependenices between blocks of ciphertext to be overcome.

Other fixed vulnerabilities include three denial of service bugs, a double-free, and an Uninitialized SSL 3.0 Padding flaw.

The latter flaw was limited in scope and meant that in each record up to 15 bytes of uninitialized memory could be sent, encrypted, to SSL peers.

It arose because OpenSSL failed to clear the bytes used as block cipher padding in SSL 3.0 records. It did not affect TLS.

Copyright © SC Magazine, Australia

Six OpenSSL holes plugged
Technology

What are your thoughts on this article? Add your comment below.

To begin commenting right away, you can log in below or register an account if you don't yet have one. Please read our guidelines on commenting. Offending posts will be removed and your access may be suspended. Abusive or obscene language will not be tolerated. The comments below do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of SC Magazine, Haymarket Media or its employees.

NOTE: You must be a registered member of SC Magazine to post a comment.

Click here to login | Click here to register
comments powered by Disqus
Sign up to receive SC Magazine email newsletters
   FOLLOW US...
Most Read