Dell System Detect installs root certificate and private key (DSDTestProvider)

Overview

Dell System Detect installs the DSDTestProvider certificate into theTrusted Root Certificate Store on Microsoft Windows systems. The certificate includes the private key. This allows attackers to create trusted certificates and perform impersonation, man-in-the-middle (MiTM), and passive decryption attacks, resulting in the exposure of sensitive information.

Description

Dell System Detect (DSD) is an application that runs on your Windows-based PC or Tablet with your permission and interacts with the Dell Support website. DSD is pre-installed on some Dell systems. DSD installs a trusted root certificate (DSDTestProvider) that includes the private key. Dell systems that have been re-imaged or do not otherwise have DSD installed are not affected.

Impact

An attacker can generate certificates signed by the DSDTestProvider CA. Systems that trusts the DSDTestProvider CA will trust any certificate issued by the CA. An attacker can impersonate web sites and other services, sign software and email messages, and decrypt network traffic and other data. Common attack scenarios include impersonating a web site, performing a MiTM attack to decrypt HTTPS traffic, and installing malicious software.

Solution

Revoke DSDTestProvider certificate Revoke the DSDTestProvider certificate. Using the Windows certificate manager (certmgr.msc), move the DSDTestProvider certificate from the Trusted Root Certificate Store to Untrusted Certificates. Revoking the certificate helps prevent reinstating trust if DSD is reinstalled. Administrators can Configure Trusted Roots and Disallowed Certificates for managed systems.

Vendor Information (Learn More)

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
Dell	Affected	-	24 Nov 2015

If you are a vendor and your product is affected, let us know.

CVSS Metrics (Learn More)

Group	Score	Vector
Base	9.4	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:N
Temporal	8.5	E:H/RL:TF/RC:C
Environmental	6.4	CDP:ND/TD:M/CR:ND/IR:ND/AR:ND

References

• https://blog.hboeck.de/archives/876-Superfish-2.0-Dangerous-Certificate-on-Dell-Laptops-breaks-encrypted-HTTPS-Connections.html
• http://huagati.blogspot.com/2015/07/do-you-know-which-cas-can-issue-ssltls.html
• https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn265983.aspx
• https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/cert/2015/03/the-risks-of-ssl-inspection.html