TLS certificate validation callback always accepts the certificate

ID

vbnet.misconfiguration.insecure_ssl

Severity

high

Remediation Complexity

medium

Remediation Risk

high

Remediation Effort

medium

Resource

Misconfiguration

Language

VB.NET

Description

The TLS certificate-validation callback unconditionally returns True, so every certificate is accepted regardless of validity. This disables certificate validation and exposes the connection to man-in-the-middle attacks. Inspect the SslPolicyErrors argument and reject the certificate when it is not SslPolicyErrors.None.

Rationale

The TLS certificate-validation callback unconditionally returns True, so every certificate is accepted regardless of validity. This disables certificate validation and exposes the connection to man-in-the-middle attacks. Inspect the SslPolicyErrors argument and reject the certificate when it is not SslPolicyErrors.None.

The following code illustrates a vulnerable pattern detected by this rule:

Public Sub TrustAllInline()
    ' VULNERABLE: TLS certificate validation callback always accepts the certificate
    ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = Function(sender, cert, chain, errors) True
End Sub

Remediation

Follow secure coding practices and review the references below for detailed remediation guidance.

Configuration

This detector does not need any configuration.

References