1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-810-1

USN-810-1: NSS vulnerabilities

Publication date

4 August 2009

Overview

NSS vulnerabilities

Releases

Packages

Details

Moxie Marlinspike discovered that NSS did not properly handle regular
expressions in certificate names. A remote attacker could create a
specially crafted certificate to cause a denial of service (via application
crash) or execute arbitrary code as the user invoking the program.
(CVE-2009-2404)

Moxie Marlinspike and Dan Kaminsky independently discovered that NSS did
not properly handle certificates with NULL characters in the certificate
name. An attacker could exploit this to perform a machine-in-the-middle attack
to view sensitive information or alter encrypted communications.
(CVE-2009-2408)

Dan Kaminsky discovered NSS would still accept certificates with MD2 hash
signatures. As a result, an attacker could potentially create a malicious
trusted certificate to impersonate another site. (CVE-2009-2409)

Moxie Marlinspike discovered that NSS did not properly handle regular
expressions in certificate names. A remote attacker could create a
specially crafted certificate to cause a denial of service (via application
crash) or execute arbitrary code as the user invoking the program.
(CVE-2009-2404)

Moxie Marlinspike and Dan Kaminsky independently discovered that NSS did
not properly handle certificates with NULL characters in the certificate
name. An attacker could exploit this to perform a machine-in-the-middle attack
to view sensitive information or alter encrypted communications.
(CVE-2009-2408)

Dan Kaminsky discovered NSS would still accept certificates with MD2 hash
signatures. As a result, an attacker could potentially create a malicious
trusted certificate to impersonate another site. (CVE-2009-2409)

Update instructions

After a standard system upgrade you need to restart any applications that use NSS, such as Firefox, to effect the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release Package Version
9.04 jaunty libnss3-1d –  3.12.3.1-0ubuntu0.9.04.1
8.10 intrepid libnss3-1d –  3.12.3.1-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
8.04 hardy libnss3-1d –  3.12.3.1-0ubuntu0.8.04.1

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Get Ubuntu Pro

References

Have additional questions?

Talk to a member of the team ›