CVE-2022-3786
Published: 01 November 2022
Summary
CVE-2022-3786 is a high-severity Classic Buffer Overflow (CWE-120) vulnerability in Nodejs Node.Js. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 3.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
A buffer overrun vulnerability affects OpenSSL during X.509 certificate verification, specifically in name constraint checking. The flaw occurs after certificate chain signature verification and can be reached when a certificate authority has signed a malicious certificate or when an application proceeds with verification despite an untrusted issuer path. An attacker-supplied email address containing an arbitrary number of '.' characters triggers an overflow on the stack, classified under CWE-120 with a CVSS score of 7.5.
In a TLS client the issue is triggered by connecting to a malicious server; in a TLS server it can be triggered when client authentication is requested and a malicious client presents the crafted certificate. Successful exploitation produces a crash that results in denial of service, with no confidentiality or integrity impact.
OpenSSL security advisories and associated commits reference patches that address the buffer handling in name constraint processing, and additional guidance appears in coordinated notices from Intel and CERT.
EPSS scores have remained in the 0.27–0.31 range with no material post-disclosure climb from a low baseline.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-7358
Vulnerability details
A buffer overrun can be triggered in X.509 certificate verification, specifically in name constraint checking. Note that this occurs after certificate chain signature verification and requires either a CA to have signed a malicious certificate or for an application to…
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continue certificate verification despite failure to construct a path to a trusted issuer. An attacker can craft a malicious email address in a certificate to overflow an arbitrary number of bytes containing the `.' character (decimal 46) on the stack. This buffer overflow could result in a crash (causing a denial of service). In a TLS client, this can be triggered by connecting to a malicious server. In a TLS server, this can be triggered if the server requests client authentication and a malicious client connects.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
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.
Platform-independent managed code eliminates the need for unchecked native buffer copies that are the root cause of classic buffer overflows.