CWE Database
/

CWE-370

Back to CWE list

CWE-370

Missing Check for Certificate Revocation after Initial Check

Variant
Draft

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.

Common Consequences

Scope

Access Control

Impact

Gain Privileges or Assume Identity

Scope

Integrity

Impact

Modify Application Data

Scope

Confidentiality

Impact

Read Application Data

Potential Mitigations

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.

Applicable Platforms

Not Language-Specific

Security Training

Train your team to recognize and prevent security threats with our comprehensive security awareness program.

Start Training

Vulnerability Scanning

Discover vulnerabilities in your applications and infrastructure before attackers do.

Scan Now