openssl/doc/crypto/X509_verify_cert.pod
Matt Caswell aae41f8c54 Reject calls to X509_verify_cert that have not been reinitialised
The function X509_verify_cert checks the value of |ctx->chain| at the
beginning, and if it is NULL then it initialises it, along with the value
of ctx->untrusted. The normal way to use X509_verify_cert() is to first
call X509_STORE_CTX_init(); then set up various parameters etc; then call
X509_verify_cert(); then check the results; and finally call
X509_STORE_CTX_cleanup(). The initial call to X509_STORE_CTX_init() sets
|ctx->chain| to NULL. The only place in the OpenSSL codebase  where
|ctx->chain| is set to anything other than a non NULL value is in
X509_verify_cert itself. Therefore the only ways that |ctx->chain| could be
non NULL on entry to X509_verify_cert is if one of the following occurs:
1) An application calls X509_verify_cert() twice without re-initialising
in between.
2) An application reaches inside the X509_STORE_CTX structure and changes
the value of |ctx->chain| directly.

With regards to the second of these, we should discount this - it should
not be supported to allow this.

With regards to the first of these, the documentation is not exactly
crystal clear, but the implication is that you must call
X509_STORE_CTX_init() before each call to X509_verify_cert(). If you fail
to do this then, at best, the results would be undefined.

Calling X509_verify_cert() with |ctx->chain| set to a non NULL value is
likely to have unexpected results, and could be dangerous. This commit
changes the behaviour of X509_verify_cert() so that it causes an error if
|ctx->chain| is anything other than NULL (because this indicates that we
have not been initialised properly). It also clarifies the associated
documentation. This is a follow up commit to CVE-2015-1793.

Reviewed-by: Stephen Henson <steve@openssl.org>
2015-07-07 21:57:11 +01:00

55 lines
1.5 KiB
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=pod
=head1 NAME
X509_verify_cert - discover and verify X509 certificate chain
=head1 SYNOPSIS
#include <openssl/x509.h>
int X509_verify_cert(X509_STORE_CTX *ctx);
=head1 DESCRIPTION
The X509_verify_cert() function attempts to discover and validate a
certificate chain based on parameters in B<ctx>. A complete description of
the process is contained in the L<verify(1)|verify(1)> manual page.
=head1 RETURN VALUES
If a complete chain can be built and validated this function returns 1,
otherwise it return zero, in exceptional circumstances it can also
return a negative code.
If the function fails additional error information can be obtained by
examining B<ctx> using, for example X509_STORE_CTX_get_error().
=head1 NOTES
Applications rarely call this function directly but it is used by
OpenSSL internally for certificate validation, in both the S/MIME and
SSL/TLS code.
The negative return value from X509_verify_cert() can only occur if no
certificate is set in B<ctx> (due to a programming error); if X509_verify_cert()
twice without reinitialising B<ctx> in between; or if a retry
operation is requested during internal lookups (which never happens with
standard lookup methods). It is however recommended that application check
for <= 0 return value on error.
=head1 BUGS
This function uses the header B<x509.h> as opposed to most chain verification
functiosn which use B<x509_vfy.h>.
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<X509_STORE_CTX_get_error(3)|X509_STORE_CTX_get_error(3)>
=head1 HISTORY
X509_verify_cert() is available in all versions of SSLeay and OpenSSL.
=cut