Keyfactor Uncovers SCEP Vulnerability For Mobile Devices In the Enterprise

Vulnerability Note VU#971035- Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) does not strongly authenticate certificate requests

CLEVELAND, OH – June 28, 2012. Researchers at Certified Security Solutions, Inc. (CSS), a leading information security company, have uncovered a potentially serious security issue pertaining to the use of the Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) in conjunction with mobile devices. Organizations that leverage SCEP to issue digital certificates to mobile devices may be subject to a privilege escalation attack.

The problem is not caused by an implementation error in a single product, or by an issue with the SCEP protocol itself, but rather by a combination of features, configurations, and use cases that, together, open up a previously unforeseen avenue of attack. Mobile Device Management (MDM) systems that leverage SCEP to issue certificates for authentication into enterprise systems such as Wi-Fi, VPN, or ActiveSync are among the most critically affected scenarios.

Certified Security Solutions has been working for several weeks with US-CERT and CERT/CC at Carnegie Mellon to facilitate notifications and information disclosure through the proper channels. The official US-CERT vulnerability report can be found at the following link: https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/971035

“We strongly encourage every organization that uses SCEP or a Mobile Device Management system along with an enterprise Public Key Infrastructure to take a deeper look to see whether they’re affected and at risk,” said Ted Shorter, CSS’ Chief Technology Officer. “We’ve setup an area on our website that takes a deeper dive into explaining the vulnerability, and the steps for enterprises to protect themselves.”

Visit this informational portal online at www.css-security.com/scep.

About CSS

CSS is an information security services company with operations throughout North America and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. We specialize in three critical areas of information security: identity & access management, secure infrastructure & governance, and risk & compliance. CSS provides consulting services, managed security services, security as a service and security software tools in order to meet our clients’ needs. For more information and for a complete list of branch offices, visit www.css-security.com or email [email protected]