CVE-2019-13050

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Last Modified: UTC

Moderate Moderate Impact What does this mean?
6.5 CVSS v3 Base Score

Description

The MITRE CVE dictionary describes this issue as

Interaction between the sks-keyserver code through 1.2.0 of the SKS keyserver network, and GnuPG through 2.2.16, makes it risky to have a GnuPG keyserver configuration line referring to a host on the SKS keyserver network. Retrieving data from this network may cause a persistent denial of service, because of a Certificate Spamming Attack.

Statement

This is a certificate spamming attack, against key servers which use the sks-keyserver software. Attackers were able to poison some certificates in the SKS keyserver network. When GnuPG users import these certificate their installations will break. Currently there is no patch available for GnuPG. Users are encouraged to apply the mitigation mentioned on this page. Lastly there is no way to currently detect which certificates have been poisoned.

Users of GnuPG who import only locally created certificates or those created within their infrastructure and later use them for verification etc are not affected by this flaw.

Mitigation

As per upstream: High-risk users should stop using the keyserver network immediately.

1. Open ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf in a text editor. Ensure there is no line starting with keyserver. If there is, remove it.
2. Open ~/.gnupg/dirmngr.conf in a text editor. Add the line "keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org" to the end of it.

keys.openpgp.org is a new experimental keyserver which is not part of the keyserver network and has some features which make it resistant to this attack. It is not a drop-in replacement: it has some limitations (for instance, its search functionality is sharply constrained). However, once you make this change you will be able to run gpg --refresh-keys with confidence.

For installations which are currently rendered unusable by this attack, the following repair method is advised:
1. If you know which certificate is likely poisoned, try deleting it. Once the installation becomes usable again, you can acquire a new unpoisoned copy of the certificate and re-import it.
2. If you do not know which certificate is poisoned, best option is to get a list of all your certificate IDs, delete your keyrings completely, and rebuild from scratch using known-good copies of the public certificates.

Additional Information

External References

Content from www.cve.org is not included.https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-13050

Content from nvd.nist.gov is not included.https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-13050

https://access.redhat.com/articles/4264021

Content from gist.github.com is not included.https://gist.github.com/rjhansen/67ab921ffb4084c865b3618d6955275f

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 gnupg Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 gnupg2 Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 gnupg2 Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 gnupg2 Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 gnupg2 Fixed RHSA-2020:4490
Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown Red Hat NVD
CVSS v3 Base Score 6.5 7.5
Attack Vector Network Network
Attack Complexity Low Low
Privileges Required None None
User Interaction Required None
Scope Unchanged Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact None None
Integrity Impact None None
Availability Impact High High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

NVD CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

 For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?
  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

 A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

 A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

 A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

 The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

 In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.

My product is listed as "Out of Support Scope". What does this mean?

 When a product is listed as "Out of Support Scope", it means a vulnerability with the impact level assigned to this CVE is no longer covered by its current support lifecycle phase. The product has been identified to contain the impacted component, but analysis to determine whether it is affected or not by this vulnerability was not performed. The product should be assumed to be affected. Customers are advised to apply any mitigation options documented on this page, consider removing or disabling the impacted component, or upgrade to a supported version of the product that has an update available.