Cyber Resilience

CVE-2021-20230

High

Published: 23 February 2021

Published
23 February 2021
Modified
21 November 2024
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0021 43.4th percentile
Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2021-20230 is a high-severity Improper Certificate Validation (CWE-295) vulnerability in Stunnel Stunnel. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, ranked at the 43.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

A flaw was found in stunnel before 5.57, where it improperly validates client certificates when it is configured to use both redirect and verifyChain options. This flaw allows an attacker with a certificate signed by a Certificate Authority, which is…

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not the one accepted by the stunnel server, to access the tunneled service instead of being redirected to the address specified in the redirect option. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

stunnel
stunnel
≤ 5.57

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-295

When certificates are used to establish component provenance, the control requires correct certificate validation procedures.

addresses: CWE-295

Mandates approved trust anchors and issuance policies, directly preventing acceptance of unvalidated or untrusted certificates.

addresses: CWE-295

Correct system time is required for proper enforcement of certificate notBefore/notAfter dates and time-based revocation checks.

References