The SSL certificate vulnerabilities could be caused by certificate name mismatch, internal names, and missing fields of the certificate. The detailed introduction of each is as follows:

 

Certificate name mismatch

The SSL certificate vulnerabilities could be caused by SSL certificate name mismatch, which means that the fully qualified domain name of the website does not match the domain name which has been specified in the SSL certificate. It is essential that SSL certificate must match the domain name in it exactly with that of the website to be accessed.

For instance, a website domain name delcorpdata.com.au should be specified exactly as same as that in the SSL certificate which is delcorpdata.com.au. If the domain name of the website is delcorpdata.com.au and in the SSL certificate the domain name is delcorpdata.com then it is known as certificate name mismatch and name mismatch error will be displayed on the screen. The client or user will experience name mismatch error caused by some reasons such as self-signed certificates, exact domain name misspelled and the wrong type of SSL certificate.

When a user’s browser detects such certificate name mismatch, it will disconnect from the website to be accessed and then prompt an error regarding name mismatch. On the company’s side, it may cause losing potential clients for your company.

Solutions for certificate name mismatch

Trusted Certificate Authority issued certificates should be used and the certificate must be always renewed for the domain name in case that it is expired. The domain name should be spelled appropriately and applied to the correct type of SSL certificate.

 

Internal names

The issue with internal names is that the Certificate Authorities (CA) does not provide certificates for the internal names and internal name cannot be validated because it cannot be substantiated extraneously. Examples of internal names are IP address and part of the domain name for a private network.

Solution

Public CA-signed certificates should be used to overcome such problem caused by the browser. Any internal connection which needs to be verified by public certificates must use public names for the configuration. The companies’ employees should be aware of such situations and try to avoid them because they can turn into a security breach.

 

Missing or Misconfigured fields and values in certificates

Some of the certificates do not have the requisite information which can cause a problem of distrust website because the browser will display the warning message on the screen. The missing or misconfigured values and fields in SSL certificates can halt the applications to work appropriately. Moreover, potential clients may avoid accessing your website when they detect such warning messages caused by uncompleted certificates. Because they may define the website as a malicious one.

Solution

The SSL certificates should be regularly renewed or reissued to complement missing or misconfigured values and fields, and these certificates should be provided by formal or trusted Certificate Authority (CA) only.

 

Need any help with SSL certificate vulnerabilities?

Written by Julio Del Cid from DelCorp Data. Julio Del Cid can help with SSL certificate vulnerabilities. If you need assistance you can visit our contact page and request a call-back about SSL certificate vulnerabilities.

DelCorp Data is a cybersecurity agency which specializes in software-based attacks and overall cyber protection of your organization. Contact us on 1300 del corp / 1300335267. We are an Australian company based in Melbourne.