V-288141

Discussion

If the private key is discovered, an attacker can use the key to authenticate as an authorized user and gain access to the network infrastructure. The cornerstone of the PKI is the private key used to encrypt or digitally sign information. If the private key is stolen, this will lead to the compromise of the authentication and nonrepudiation gained through PKI because the attacker can use the private key to digitally sign documents and pretend to be the authorized user. Both the holders of a digital certificate and the issuing authority must protect the computers, storage devices, or whatever they use to keep the private keys.

Check Content

Review the application documentation and deployed configuration to determine whether the application's PKI authentication mechanism enforces authorized access to its corresponding private key.

If the application's PKI authentication mechanism does not enforce authorized access to its corresponding private key, this is a finding.