CVE-2026-33308

mod_gnutls missing key purpose check in client certificate verification

State
Published
Severity
6.8 Medium
Published
Mar 24, 2026
Updated
Mar 24, 2026
Reserved
Mar 18, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

Mod_gnutls is a TLS module for Apache HTTPD based on GnuTLS. Prior to version 0.13.0, code for client certificate verification did not check the key purpose as set in the Extended Key Usage extension. An attacker with access to the private key for a valid certificate issued by a CA trusted for TLS client authentication but designated for a different purpose could have used that certificate to improperly access resources requiring TLS client authentication. Server configurations that do not use client certificates (`GnuTLSClientVerify ignore`, the default) are not affected. The problem has been fixed in version 0.13.0 by rewriting certificate verification to use `gnutls_certificate_verify_peers()`, and requiring key purpose id-kp-clientAuth (also known as `tls_www_client` in GnuTLS) by default if the Extended Key Usage extension is present. The new `GnuTLSClientKeyPurpose` option allows overriding the expected key purpose if needed (please see the manual for details). Behavior for certificates without an Extended Key Usage extension is unchanged. If dedicated (sub-)CAs are used for issuing TLS client certificates only (not for any other purposes) the issue has no practical impact.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.16.8 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:NGitHub_M

Weaknesses

  • CWE-295 Improper Certificate Validation

Affected Products

ProductVersions
mod_gnutlsairtower-luna
  • < 0.13.0Affected

References

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