CVE-2014-0636
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedEMC RSA BSAFE Micro Edition Suite (MES) 3.2.x before 3.2.6 and 4.0.x before 4.0.5 does not properly validate X.509 certificate chains, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof SSL servers via a crafted certificate chain.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceEMC RSA BSAFE Micro Edition Suite fails to properly validate X.509 certificate chains, allowing attackers to present crafted certificate chains that bypass trust validation. This enables man-in-the-middle attacks where attackers can impersonate legitimate SSL servers to vulnerable clients using this library.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 3.2.0= 3.2.1= 3.2.2= 3.2.3= 3.2.4= 3.2.5= 4.0.0= 4.0.1= 4.0.2= 4.0.3= 4.0.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate RSA BSAFE MES library filesSearch for files named libbsafe, bsafe, or RSA_BSAFE in your environment's library directories (e.g., /usr/lib, /opt, application installation folders). Check product documentation or application dependencies to identify if they embed this library.Affected if The library files are present in your environment.
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Identify the exact library versionExamine the library file's metadata, version info, or associated version files. Check application manifests or bills of materials that reference this library. Compare your version against the affected list: 3.2.0 through 3.2.5 and 4.0.0 through 4.0.4.Affected if Your installed version matches any of the versions listed in the affected products list.
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Verify SSL/TLS certificate validation is in useReview application configurations and code that use the RSA BSAFE library for SSL/TLS connections. Check if applications are validating X.509 certificate chains when establishing secure connections.Affected if Your applications use the library for SSL/TLS connections with certificate validation enabled (the default and typical configuration).
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Identify applications using the vulnerable libraryAudit your applications and services that integrate RSA BSAFE MES for cryptographic functions. Review software dependencies, vendor disclosures, or application runtime to confirm which products bundle this library.Affected if Any of your deployed applications incorporate the affected RSA BSAFE MES versions.
You are affected if your environment contains Dell Bsafe Micro Edition Suite versions 3.2.0-3.2.5 or 4.0.0-4.0.4 and applications use the library for SSL/TLS certificate chain validation.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate RSA BSAFE MES to version 3.2.6 or 4.0.5 or later to obtain the patched library that properly validates certificate chains. After updating, verify that certificate validation is functioning correctly in all affected integrations.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,144.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-0636 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-0636 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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