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Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino servers

By Andrew Pollack on 10/16/2014 at 11:20 AM EDT

Rather than repeat what everyone else is writing about POODLE today, I want to give Domino server administrators a few quick items as it relates to them.

In Brief -- and based on what I've been able to quickly learn:

IS Domino affected?
Yes. All Domino servers that are accepting direct HTTPS connections are impacted. THIS MEANS ALL TRAVELER SERVERS AS WELL.

What is the risk to my server or data?
The most immediate risk is access to user data and user impersonation. POODLE is the type of attack we call "Man in the Middle". This means someone who can get access to the TCPIP traffic between a user's browser and the server can access or alter that content. This is not a "take down the server" attack - not directly. However, in theory the credentials of someone with access to other resources on the server that could take it down is possible. For example, if your credentials were captured and an attacker was able to use them or take over your session and you had access to the web administration client, the attacker could use that tool to do all kinds of bad things.

How big is this risk?
Big enough. Although the hole has been there for all of the last 18 years, the published methods for exploiting that hole are now readily available and quickly making their way into scripted tools that any idiot with a laptop at the coffee shop can use to attack your users.

Is there a Domino server setting to fix this?
At this time, -NO-. There does not appear to be a simple domino INI setting to fix this. We hope that there will be one published, maybe something left over from debugging code that is not published which turns off SSL 3.0 but at this time, SSL 3.0 is always enabled on the Domino HTTPS stack.

What Can I do?
There are configurations being posted for Apache and for IBM HTTP SERVER (IHS). Either of these can be configured in a "Reverse Proxy" configuration. Russ Maher has a great two-blog article on how to set up IHS in Domino 9 and turn on TLS which will resolve much of the issues. As additional configuration steps come out today which tell you how to turn off SSL 3.0 in IHS you should use those in combination with Russ's article and that should do the trick.

What do I do in the mean time?

Setting up a reverse proxy isn't super easy. If you are worried about exploits in the mean time, you'll have to council your users NOT to use the tools from coffee shops, wifi hotspots, hotel networks, or other places where they do not personally own the connection to the ISP. You may also want to turn off Traveler. I know that's a huge deal -- but you asked.

Where can I get more detailed information on Poodle?

Bill Malchisky has put together a page on it, and if I know Bill, he'll be diligent about keeping it up to date. Otherwise, just do a web search. It's all over the news.


There are  - loading -  comments....

re: Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversBy John James on 10/16/2014 at 12:33 PM EDT
Thanks for publishing this Andrew.
re: Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversBy Howard on 10/16/2014 at 03:45 PM EDT
Hi Andrew, I saw this article today about the issue and how a network IPS might
help... any thoughts? I guess it depends if you have one and then if it can be
updated for POODLE...
http://www.zdnet.com/when-poodles-attack-ips-and-ngfw-are-your-first-defense-700
0034731/?s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61
re: Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversBy Andrew Pollack on 10/18/2014 at 08:37 PM EDT
If you have an IPS that helps, it's effectively a reverse proxy like what was
discussed, with two or more back end endpoints instead of just one.
re: Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversBy Giulio Campobassi on 10/16/2014 at 07:41 PM EDT
I love a good conspiracy, so given that this issue was raised, 4 years ago in
an SPR ? No one in IBM has actually done anything about it ?

So, this sounds like it's in Scott Souder's domain ? His last post on his blog
in September is about Smartcloud Notes... hmm.. may be this is IBM's subtle way
to heard customers onto the cloud... A new strategy in "social business" .. I
call it the "3 monkeys" approach "See no evil, hear no evil... " you get the
idea...
Free reverse proxy VMBy Lars Berntrop-Bos on 10/17/2014 at 04:21 AM EDT
Another option is to interpose the reverse proxy VM published by Darren Duke:
http://blog.darrenduke.net/darren/ddbz.nsf/dx/here-is-a-freely-available-vm-to-r
everse-proxy-domino-shoot-the-poodle.htm
re: Free reverse proxy VMBy Andrew Pollack on 10/18/2014 at 08:38 PM EDT
Yes, that's a reverse proxy option as well.
re: Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversBy Bill Malchisky on 10/17/2014 at 08:50 AM EDT
Thank you for kind words and inclusion, Andrew. I just released Update 9, to
the post, which includes a Fix Status section at the top.
re: Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversBy Andrew Pollack on 10/18/2014 at 08:38 PM EDT
Awesome Bill. I'm completely overwhelmed right now with some family issues
and don't have time to track this rigorously.


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