Software Engineering Institute

The description below is an excerpt from Sun Security Bulletin 198.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
Bulletin Number: #00198
Date: October 24, 2000
Cross-Ref:
Title: Browser Certificates


1.Bulletin Topics

Sun advises of a potential compromise of 2 specific security certificates which had limited distribution.

Sun recommends that you follow the directions found at http://sunsolve5.sun.com/secbull/certificate_howto.html to determine if
your web browser has accepted any of the potentially compromised certificates.

2.Who is Affected

A web browser that has accepted a Sun certificate with one the following serial numbers:
3181 B12D C422 5DAC A340 CF86 2710 ABE6 (Internet Explorer)
17:05:FB:13:A2:2F:9A:F3:C1:30:F5:62:6E:12:50:4C (Netscape)

3.Understanding the Vulnerability

Web browsers accept security certificates from trusted sources. A specific certificate from Sun may have received outside
exposure.

Systems that encounter this certificate are potentially vulnerable to attack from malicious applets, applications or components.

4.Corrective Action

Follow the instructions at http://sunsolve5.sun.com/secbull/certificate_howto.html to determine if your browser has accepted one
of the potentially compromised certificates. If your browser contains this particular certificate, follow the instructions to remove it.

Users who accept these certificates into their browser may inadvertently run malicious code signed by the compromised certificates. Any such code would appear to be from Sun Microsystems, thus creating a misleading sense of trust.