CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-40012 — uthenticode is a small cross-platform library for partially verifying Authenticode digital signatures

High CVSS 7.5

uthenticode is a small cross-platform library for partially verifying Authenticode digital signatures. Versions of uthenticode prior to the 2.x series did not check Extended Key Usages in certificates, in violation of the Authenticode X.509 certificate profile. As a result, a malicious user could produce a "signed" PE file that uthenticode would verify and consider valid using an X.509 certificate that isn't entitled to produce code signatures (e.g., a SSL certificate). By design, uthenticode does not perform full-chain validation. However, the absence of EKU validation was an unintended oversight. The 2.0.0 release series includes EKU checks. There are no workarounds to this vulnerability.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.5 (3.1)
Published
2023-08-09
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-325, CWE-347

Affected products

  • trailofbits / uthenticode

Matched remediation archetype

General vulnerability remediation

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Confirm the affected component, deployment paths, reachable interfaces, and enabled features from inventories and configuration, without probing production destructively.
  • Compare the advisory's affected conditions with the repository lockfiles, build manifests, artifacts, and runtime inventory.
  • Identify data sensitivity, trust boundaries, and privilege level for every confirmed affected deployment.

Remediate safely

  • Apply a vendor-supported fix or remove the affected component or feature; record the selected change and its source in the repository.
  • Update direct and transitive dependency locks, generated artifacts, deployment manifests, and asset inventories together.
  • Add a regression test for the documented unsafe condition using inert inputs and preserve rollback instructions.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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