Authentication / Expired Certificate

Description

Expired Certificate is an authentication vulnerability classified as CWE-284 and listed as A6 in the OWASP Testing Guide. It is a type of vulnerability that affects infrastructure, specifically SSL/TLS encryption. When an SSL certificate expires, it can no longer be used to authenticate the connection between two parties, resulting in the connection being blocked or data being intercepted without consent.

Risk

The risk of this vulnerability is high as an expired SSL certificate can allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information and resources, leading to data breaches and system compromise.

Solution

In order to mitigate this vulnerability, administrators should ensure that all SSL/TLS certificates are periodically checked for expiration and renewed in a timely manner. Additionally, administrators should also ensure that all certificates are securely stored and that all connections are encrypted with strong SSL/TLS ciphers.