CVE-2014-1568

What it actually does

Improper ASN.1 parsing of X.509 certificate values allows signature malleability that bypasses RSA signature verification.

Why it matters to the business

Attackers can impersonate trusted websites, intercept encrypted traffic, or deliver malicious signed content, increasing risk of data theft and loss of user trust across browser and OS deployments.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker generates a specially crafted X.509 certificate whose ASN.1 structure exploits the parsing flaw to produce a valid-looking RSA signature for a different subject, then serves the certificate during a TLS handshake or code-signing operation to deceive vulnerable clients.

How to fix it

Upgrade NSS to 3.16.2.1 or newer, Firefox to 32.0.3 or ESR 24.8.1/31.1.1, Thunderbird to 24.8.1/31.1.2, SeaMonkey to 2.29.1, Chrome to 37.0.2062.124 (Windows/OS X) or Chrome OS to 37.0.2062.120.

How to confirm the fix worked

Inventory deployed NSS and browser versions, compare against the listed fixed releases, and retest certificate validation with known-good and crafted test certificates after patching.

Typical attack path

1. Generate a malicious certificate that exploits ASN.1 signature malleability
2. Deliver the certificate to a target client via TLS, code signing, or email
3. Trigger faulty signature validation in NSS
4. Impersonate a legitimate identity or execute signed malicious code

How to detect it

Review TLS handshake and certificate validation logs from NSS-using applications for unexpected signature acceptance events; correlate with network traffic containing suspicious certificates.

What your security team should do

• Apply the listed product updates immediately
• Audit internal certificate issuance and validation pipelines for reliance on affected NSS versions
• Enable certificate pinning where feasible to reduce spoofing impact