An improper certificate validation vulnerability exists in curl <v8.1.0 in the way it supports matching of wildcard patterns when listed as "Subject Alternative Name" in TLS server certificates. curl can be built to use its own name matching function for TLS rather than one provided by a TLS library. This private wildcard matching function would match IDN (International Domain Name) hosts incorrectly and could as a result accept patterns that otherwise should mismatch. IDN hostnames are converted to puny code before used for certificate checks. Puny coded names always start with `xn--` and should not be allowed to pattern match, but the wildcard check in curl could still check for `x*`, which would match even though the IDN name most likely contained nothing even resembling an `x`.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.9, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts integrity (unauthorized modifications), for affected systems. Impacting 14 products from haxx, from debian, from fedoraproject and 11 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2023, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2023-05-26T21:15:16.020
2025-01-15T16:15:26.203
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 5.9 (MEDIUM)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | haxx | curl | < 8.1.0 | Yes |
| Operating System | debian | debian_linux | 10.0 | Yes |
| Operating System | fedoraproject | fedora | 37 | Yes |
| Operating System | fedoraproject | fedora | 38 | Yes |
| Application | netapp | clustered_data_ontap | - | Yes |
| Application | netapp | ontap_antivirus_connector | - | Yes |
| Operating System | netapp | h300s_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | netapp | h300s | - | No |
| Operating System | netapp | h500s_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | netapp | h500s | - | No |
| Operating System | netapp | h700s_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | netapp | h700s | - | No |
| Operating System | netapp | h410s_firmware | - | Yes |
| Hardware | netapp | h410s | - | No |
| Operating System | apple | macos | < 11.7.9 | Yes |
| Operating System | apple | macos | < 12.6.8 | Yes |
| Operating System | apple | macos | < 13.5 | Yes |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For haxx's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.