In the continually evolving world of cybersecurity, a recent discovery has brought attention to a significant vulnerability within the realm of SSL certificate management. Acme.sh, the well-regarded ACME protocol client, known for its pure shell language compatibility and ease of use, has become the subject of a cybersecurity alert. The vulnerability, designated as CVE-2023-38198, has the potential to execute arbitrary commands from a remote server.
Widely praised for its ACME version 1 and 2 protocol support, including ACME v2 wildcard certificates, acme.sh has long been the go-to tool for managing the installation, renewal, and revocation of SSL certificates. Its ‘zero-dependencies’ design and rootless operability have contributed to its widespread popularity, as it doesn’t require extensive downloads or installations.
However, its strength became a weak point when the tool, in versions prior to 3.0.6, was found to be susceptible to exploitation by remote servers. The CVE-2023-38198 flaw, allowing for the execution of arbitrary commands via ‘eval’, has reportedly been exploited in the wild in June 2023, according to the National Vulnerability Database.
The flaw came to light when researcher Matt Holt reported the vulnerability on June 9. Thankfully, the development team behind the acme.sh project was swift to respond, releasing version 3.0.6 on the same day to address the reported flaw.
In an age where secure digital interactions are paramount, this discovery and prompt resolution underline the importance of proactive vulnerability detection and swift remediation action. It serves as a stark reminder for organizations and individual users to regularly update and patch their software to avoid falling prey to such exploitations.
