NATS TLS certificate common name validation bypass
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Fixed
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from GitHub. Impact type from CWE-347.
Summary
The NATS official Rust clients are vulnerable to MitM when using TLS. A fix for the `nats` crate hasn't been released yet. Since the `nats` crate is going to be deprecated anyway, consider switching to `async-nats` `>= 0.29` which already fixed this vulnerability. The common name of the server's TLS certificate is validated against the `host`name provided by the server's plaintext `INFO` message during the initial connection setup phase. A MitM proxy can tamper with the `host` field's value by substituting it with the common name of a valid certificate it controls, fooling the client into accepting it. ## Reproduction steps 1. The NATS Rust client tries to establish a new connection 2. The connection is intercepted by a MitM proxy 3. The proxy makes a separate connection to the NATS server 4. The NATS server replies with an `INFO` message 5. The proxy reads the `INFO`, alters the `host` JSON field and passes the tampered `INFO` back to the client 6. The proxy upgrades the client connection to TLS, presenting a certificate issued by a certificate authority present in the client's keychain. In the previous step the `host` was set to the common name of said certificate 7. `rustls` accepts the certificate, having verified that the common name matches the attacker-controlled value it was given 9. The client has been fooled by the MitM proxy into accepting the attacker-controlled certificate
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | nats (crates.io) | 0.9.0 to before 0.24.1 | 0.24.1 | Patch available | GHSA-wvc4-j7g5-4f79 |
- nats (crates.io) Vendor— Affected 0.9.0 to before 0.24.1 Fixed in 0.24.1 Patch available GHSA-wvc4-j7g5-4f79
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-wvc4-j7g5-4f79 nats (crates.io) Fixed in 0.24.1 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-03 Threatist record created from GHSA-wvc4-j7g5-4f79
References
Sources
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