Microsoft has released a Security Advisory for the upcoming patch to increase minimum bit levels of certificates to 1024 bit security advisory 2661254. The expected release date for this patch is Oct 9th at which time the update will be available through Windows Update. This change to the minimum bits level of certificates will change the Windows certificate system and will cause it to stop accepting certificates that are less than 1024 bits as those keys are considered ‘weak’. This change will affect all Windows operating systems above Windows XP SP3 and Windows 8 already implements the tighter certificate check.
To help identify systems that are leveraging weak certificates the Retina solutions have audit ID 12609 - SSL Certificate Weak Public Key Strength enabled by default.
This audit is available with Retina Community and the commercial version of Retina. Users can include these new checks in a general vulnerability scan, or can create a targeted scan to specifically look for these specific vulnerabilities.
Feel free to download and try out our community version to discover, assess and gain remediation guidance in our simple to use standalone scanner. In addition to standard assessment of patches, insecure configurations and zero-days, the commercial version of Retina Network also provides in-depth credentialed scans for over 2500 operating systems, databases, web applications, network devices, applications, mobile devices, cloud providers and virtual applications. Compare Retina products.
Once you’ve identified systems that need to be updated you’ll need to consult with the various vendors on the processes required to incorporate stronger certificates for their products. For detailed information on how this affects Beyondtrust’s products please visit our support page.
Scott Lang, Sr. Director, Product Marketing at BeyondTrust
Scott Lang has nearly 20 years of experience in technology product marketing, currently guiding the product marketing strategy for BeyondTrust’s privileged account management solutions and vulnerability management solutions. Prior to joining BeyondTrust, Scott was director of security solution marketing at Dell, formerly Quest Software, where he was responsible for global security campaigns, product marketing for identity and access management and Windows server management.