Number: AL20-001
Date: 14 January 2020
AUDIENCE
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This Alert is intended for IT professionals and managers of notified organizations.
PURPOSE
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An Alert is used to raise awareness of a recently identified cyber threat that may impact cyber information assets, and to provide additional detection and mitigation advice to recipients. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security ("Cyber Centre") is also available to provide additional assistance regarding the content of this Alert to recipients as requested.
DETAILS
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Microsoft has released security updates for critical vulnerabilities, including one affecting Microsoft Windows cryptographic functionality. This ‘improper certificate validation’ vulnerability , tracked as CVE-2020-0601, prevents Microsoft Windows from accurately verifying cryptographic trust and may allow an actor to impersonate a trusted entity. Exploitation of this vulnerability would defeat systems that rely on the use of valid certificates to ensure cryptographic trust, allowing full access to encrypted communications and for the ability to execute any code with permissions reserved for trusted software.
The vulnerable operating systems are:
- Windows 10
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2019
SUGGESTED ACTION
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The Cyber Centre recommends that organizations immediately install the latest security updates from Microsoft.
REFERENCES
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Microsoft Advisory:
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-0601
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-us/security-guidance
NSA Advisory:
https://media.defense.gov/2020/Jan/14/2002234275/-1/-1/0/CSA-WINDOWS-10-CRYPT-LIB-20190114.PDF
NOTE TO READERS
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The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) operates as part of the Communications Security Establishment. We are Canada's national authority on cyber security and we lead the government's response to cyber security events. As Canada's national computer security incident response team, the
Cyber Centre works in close collaboration with government departments, critical infrastructure , Canadian businesses and international partners to prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from cyber events. We do this by providing authoritative advice and support, and coordinating information
sharing and incident response. The Cyber Centre is outward-facing, welcoming partnerships that help build a stronger, more resilient cyber space in Canada.