[SSL Observatory] SSL CA compromise in the wild

[Jacob Appelbaum]

On 03/23/2011 06:29 PM, Peter Gutmann wrote:
> Jacob Appelbaum <jacob at appelbaum.net> writes:
> 
>> Right, we're hoping that the CA key isn't compromised. I mean, more
>> compromised. :-)
> 
> You don't need a CA key compromised, you just issue yourself a CA cert and use
> that to both issue fraudulent certs and verify, via OCSP, that they're not
> revoked.

It's doom and fire if you've convinced a CA to sign a cert for you where
the basic constraints don't stop you from becoming a CA.

> 
> (Or use the '500' proxy trick, so you don't even need a CA cert.  Once you
> can get a CA to sign just a single cert of your own devising it's game over,
> whether you make yourself a CA or not).

The 500 proxy trick is great. PKI defeated by HTTP!

All the best,
Jacob