ZeroSSL: XSS to session hijacking, stealing a private key (and password hash)

by kkmon 1/19/2023, 8:40 PMwith 24 comments

by agwaon 1/19/2023, 10:07 PM

Important note: ZeroSSL is not a certificate authority but a certificate reseller who is paying an actual CA, Sectigo, to operate a white-label intermediate certificate with ZeroSSL in the name[1].

As a non-CA, ZeroSSL isn't required to provide an incident report or revoke any certificates like the researcher is requesting. Fortunately, their bad security can only impact their own customers, in contrast to a CA whose bad security can affect everyone.

[1] see https://www.agwa.name/blog/post/the_certificate_issuer_field...

by sys42590on 1/19/2023, 9:10 PM

ZeroSSL left an uncanny impression on me when for some reason acme.sh developers made them default instead of Let's Encrypt. This prompted me to switch to a different client (just in case of further worsening of Let's Encrypt support by acme.sh).

by Ayeshon 1/20/2023, 8:30 AM

Before 2020, ZeroSSL used to be a browser-based acme client using Lets Encrypt. I don't doubt that money was involved, and they switched to Comodo (now Sectigo), with no notice that I could think of. I used them for a few one-off certificates, but this rug-pull caught me off guard. I'd happily watch if they go down in this dumpster fire.

by greyhound_7on 1/19/2023, 10:18 PM

ZeroSSL is pretty much the worst. If you need TLS certs, don't use them.

by hit8runon 1/20/2023, 9:12 AM

Hmm… I’m wondering if this a security flaw on purpose so the NSA or other authorities have an easy backdoor?

by egberts1on 1/19/2023, 9:40 PM

Dehydrated.io, damn few dependencies.

You're welcome.

https://github.com/dehydrated-io/dehydrated