The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to eavesdrop communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.
the OpenSSL breach that was discovered yesterday (08-04-2014). What does this breach mean for your SSL certificates and which steps should you take?
Background information A security breach was discovered in the latest version of OpenSSL (1.0.1) on the 8th of April 2014, which makes it possible for attackers to come into possession of encrypted data and the private key used for the encryption. OpenSSL is mainly used on Linux servers in combination with for instance Apache (webserver software). This makes a great number of webservers vulnerable.
An error was made in the implementation of the TLDS/DTLS heartbeat extension (RFC6520) of OpenSSL. By abusing this breach, an attacker can reach and read the memory of a server. The error was introduced into OpenSSL in December 2011. All 1.0.1 versions up to and including 1.0.1f of OpenSSL are vulnerable. Earlier versions of OpenSSL (such as 0.9.8 and 1.0.0) are not vulnerable. It is also possible for software that was based on OpenSSL to be vulnerable to attacks.
To summarise: Your SSL certificate is not compromised, but the implementation used to install the certificate on the server, is. Therefore it is important that you follow the next steps.
What should you do? Log into the portal and go to the overview of your SSL products. A check on the vulnerability of your server will immediately be executed. We run this check for every certificate. If a message appears, you will first have to upgrade your version of OpenSSL to the latest version. After the upgrade is complete, you must replace all SSL certificates. This can be easily done through the reissue function in our portal.
If no message appears, this does not mean your server is not vulnerable. It could be that the server has already been updated. Therefore, we advise you at all times to replace your SSL certificates.
