CVE-2020-25256
📋 TL;DR
This CVE reveals that Hyland OnBase installations across multiple versions share the same private key for PKI certificates. This allows attackers who obtain this key to impersonate legitimate OnBase servers, decrypt communications, or potentially authenticate as any customer. All organizations running affected OnBase versions are vulnerable.
💻 Affected Systems
- Hyland OnBase
📦 What is this software?
Onbase by Hyland
Onbase by Hyland
Onbase by Hyland
Onbase by Hyland
Onbase by Hyland
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of all OnBase communications, allowing attackers to decrypt sensitive data, impersonate legitimate servers, and potentially gain administrative access to all customer installations.
Likely Case
Man-in-the-middle attacks against OnBase communications, credential theft, and unauthorized access to sensitive business documents and workflows.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if network segmentation prevents external access and internal monitoring detects anomalous certificate usage.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires obtaining the shared private key, which could be extracted from any affected installation. Once obtained, standard cryptographic attacks apply.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Versions above those listed in affected versions
Vendor Advisory: https://www.hyland.com/en/security-advisories
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Upgrade to patched OnBase version. 2. Generate new unique PKI certificates. 3. Replace all existing certificates. 4. Restart OnBase services.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Network Segmentation
allIsolate OnBase servers from untrusted networks to limit attack surface
Replace Certificates
windowsManually replace shared certificates with unique, organization-specific certificates
Use Windows Certificate Manager or OpenSSL to generate new certificates
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate OnBase servers
- Deploy network monitoring for anomalous certificate usage and man-in-the-middle attacks
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check OnBase version against affected list and examine certificate thumbprints across installationsCheck Version:
Check OnBase administration console or registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OnBase\VersionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify new certificates have unique private keys and thumbprints differ from known vulnerable certificates📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Certificate validation failures
- Unexpected certificate thumbprints in authentication logs
Network Indicators:
- SSL/TLS handshakes using known vulnerable certificate signatures
- Man-in-the-middle detection alerts
SIEM Query:
source="onbase" AND (certificate_thumbprint="KNOWN_VULNERABLE_THUMBPRINT" OR ssl_validation_failure=true)