Incorrect SSLv2 rollback protection (CVE-2021-23839)
Published Sources: CVE.org
What is affected, what to do
OpenSSL 1.0.2 supports SSLv2. If a client attempts to negotiate SSLv2 with a server that is configured to support both SSLv2 and more recent SSL and TLS versions then a check is made for a version rollback attack when unpadding an RSA signature.
Update sinec_ins to version 1.0.
- Affected
- OpenSSL
eq Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2y (Affected 1.0.2s-1.0.2x)..Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2y (Affected 1.0.2s-1.0.2x)
- OpenSSL
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Metrics
3.7
Priority
XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.
Source: NVD, CVSS v3
3.7
CVSS v3
Severity Low on the scale from 0 to 10.
Source: CVE.org
3.0 %
EPSS score
Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 87.2
Show all metrics
- Severity
- Low
Priority (0–325)
The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?
Read in glossary- 79.34 Methodology
Exploit maturity
An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.
Read in glossary- no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS
XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.
Read in glossary- 3.7 Methodology
CVSS v3
CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.
Read in glossary- 3.7
EPSS score
The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.
Read in glossary- 3.0 %
- Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile
The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.
Read in glossary- 87.2
- Critical — this CVE ranks in the top fifth of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 80%).
KEV status
The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.
Read in glossary- —
- Published
- CISA assessment (SSVC)
- Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: partial
- Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 1 August 2024
Detection rules
No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.
Classification under NIS2 and CRA
Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.
NIS2
NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.
Read in glossary- Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
CRA
The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.
Read in glossary- From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001
ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.
Read in glossary- Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.
Description
OpenSSL 1.0.2 supports SSLv2. If a client attempts to negotiate SSLv2 with a server that is configured to support both SSLv2 and more recent SSL and TLS versions then a check is made for a version rollback attack when unpadding an RSA signature. Clients that support SSL or TLS versions greater than SSLv2 are supposed to use a special form of padding. A server that supports greater than SSLv2 is supposed to reject connection attempts from a client where this special form of padding is present, because this indicates that a version rollback has occurred (i.e. both client and server support greater than SSLv2, and yet this is the version that is being requested). The implementation of this padding check inverted the logic so that the connection attempt is accepted if the padding is present, and rejected if it is absent. This means that such as server will accept a connection if a version rollback attack has occurred. Further the server will erroneously reject a connection if a normal SSLv2 connection attempt is made. Only OpenSSL 1.0.2 servers from version 1.0.2s to 1.0.2x are affected by this issue. In order to be vulnerable a 1.0.2 server must: 1) have configured SSLv2 support at compile time (this is off by default), 2) have configured SSLv2 support at runtime (this is off by default), 3) have configured SSLv2 ciphersuites (these are not in the default ciphersuite list) OpenSSL 1.1.1 does not have SSLv2 support and therefore is not vulnerable to this issue. The underlying error is in the implementation of the RSA_padding_check_SSLv23() function. This also affects the RSA_SSLV23_PADDING padding mode used by various other functions. Although 1.1.1 does not support SSLv2 the RSA_padding_check_SSLv23() function still exists, as does the RSA_SSLV23_PADDING padding mode. Applications that directly call that function or use that padding mode will encounter this issue. However since there is no support for the SSLv2 protocol in 1.1.1 this is considered a bug and not a security issue in that version. OpenSSL 1.0.2 is out of support and no longer receiving public updates. Premium support customers of OpenSSL 1.0.2 should upgrade to 1.0.2y. Other users should upgrade to 1.1.1j. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2y (Affected 1.0.2s-1.0.2x).
Source: NVD (NIST), cvelistv5
Affected products
The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.
| Affected versions | Fixed in | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSSL | OpenSSL |
|
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| openssl | openssl |
|
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| oracle | business_intelligence |
|
|
| oracle | enterprise_manager_for_storage_management |
|
|
| oracle | enterprise_manager_ops_center |
|
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| oracle | graalvm |
|
|
| oracle | jd_edwards_world_security |
|
|
| oracle | zfs_storage_appliance_kit |
|
|
| siemens | sinec_ins |
|
|
Vendors and products
- OpenSSL OpenSSL
- Oracle Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
- Oracle Enterprise Manager For Storage Management
- Oracle Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center
- Oracle Oracle GraalVM Enterprise Edition
- Oracle Oracle Jd Edwards World Security
- Oracle Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance Kit
- Siemens Siemens SINEC INS
References & sources
- openssl.orgnews/secadv/20210216.txtVendor advisory
- git.openssl.orggitweb/?p=openssl.git;a=commitdiff;h=30919ab80a478f2d81f2e9acdc…
- oracle.comsecurity-alerts/cpuApr2021.htmlPatch, Third-party advisory
- security.netapp.comadvisory/ntap-20210219-0009Third-party advisory
- oracle.comsecurity-alerts/cpujul2021.htmlPatch, Third-party advisory
- kb.pulsesecure.netarticles/Pulse_Security_Advisories/SA44846Third-party advisory
- oracle.comsecurity-alerts/cpuoct2021.htmlPatch, Third-party advisory
- oracle.comsecurity-alerts/cpuapr2022.htmlPatch, Third-party advisory
- Siemens ProductCERTproductcert/pdf/ssa-637483.pdfPatch, Third-party advisory
- security.netapp.comadvisory/ntap-20240621-0006
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<a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2021-23839"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2021-23839.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2021-23839 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>