CVE-2014-0251 is a vulnerability that was discovered in the OpenSSL cryptographic software library, which is widely used by many applications and services on the internet. This flaw allowed an attacker to potentially bypass the Certificate Verification process, allowing them to impersonate a trusted entity and intercept sensitive information such as usernames and passwords. The vulnerability was caused by a missing check on the use of certain data structures during the verification process.
The vulnerability was first reported on April 7th, 2014 by Adam Langley of Google's security team, and was assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2014-0251. The vulnerability affected all versions of OpenSSL up to 1.0.0n and 1.0.1i, and required an attacker to have a valid certificate signed by a trusted Certificate Authority. This made it a serious threat to the security of many internet services, including web servers, email servers, and virtual private networks (VPNs).
Following the discovery of the vulnerability, a patch was quickly released by the OpenSSL development team on April 8th, 2014. However, due to the widespread use of OpenSSL, many organizations faced significant challenges in applying the patch to all vulnerable systems in a timely manner. This led to a high level of concern and scrutiny from both the public and security experts, highlighting the importance of prompt and effective response to such vulnerabilities to ensure the security of the internet and its users.