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CVE Record

CVE-2020-28942: An issue exists in PrimeKey EJBCA before 7.4.3 when enrolling with EST while proxied through an RA over the...

An issue exists in PrimeKey EJBCA before 7.4.3 when enrolling with EST while proxied through an RA over the Peers protocol. As a part of EJBCA's domain security model, the peer connector allows the restriction of client certificates (for the RA, not the end user) to a limited set of allowed CAs, thus restricting the accessibility of that RA to the rights it has within a specific role. While this works for other protocols such as CMP, it was found that the EJBCA enrollment over an EST implementation bypasses this check, allowing enrollment with a valid client certificate through any functioning and authenticated RA connected to the CA. NOTE: an attacker must already have a trusted client certificate and authorization to enroll against the targeted CA.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

PrimeKey EJBCA before 7.4.3 could allow certificate enrollment paths that ignore an RA's intended CA restrictions when EST is proxied over Peers. This matters most to organizations running delegated PKI enrollment. The issue requires an already trusted client certificate and authorization, so it is not an unauthenticated internet takeover.

Executive priority

Prioritize this for PKI environments that delegate enrollment through RAs. The prerequisites reduce broad urgency, but certificate authority boundary failures can affect trust operations and audit posture. Treat remediation as important where EST-over-Peers is enabled.

Technical view

EJBCA's peer connector can restrict an RA client certificate to specific allowed CAs. For EST enrollment proxied through an RA over Peers, that CA restriction was bypassed, unlike other protocols such as CMP. A valid authenticated RA path could enroll against a targeted CA if the requester already had a trusted client certificate and enrollment authorization.

Likely exposure

Exposure is likely limited to PrimeKey EJBCA deployments before 7.4.3 using EST enrollment proxied through Registration Authorities over the Peers protocol. Deployments not using EST-over-RA Peers, or without delegated enrollment paths, are less likely exposed based on the provided sources.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not show active exploitation or CISA KEV listing. Abuse requires existing trust: a valid client certificate and authorization to enroll against the targeted CA. The realistic risk is privilege-bound misuse or misrouting inside a PKI environment, not broad unauthenticated exploitation.

Researcher notes

Evidence is limited to the CVE description and PrimeKey reference in the bundle. No CVSS, CWE, exploit details, or independent exploitation reporting were provided. The key validation question is whether EST-over-RA Peers was enabled on vulnerable EJBCA versions.

Mitigation direction

  • Review PrimeKey advisory for the supported fix path.
  • Upgrade EJBCA deployments older than 7.4.3 where applicable.
  • Restrict or disable EST-over-RA Peers paths until remediated.
  • Review RA roles and allowed CA mappings for least privilege.
  • Monitor certificate issuance for unexpected RA-to-CA enrollment paths.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory EJBCA versions and identify instances before 7.4.3.
  • Confirm whether EST enrollment is proxied through RAs over Peers.
  • Review peer connector CA restrictions for RA client certificates.
  • Check issuance logs for certificates enrolled through unexpected RAs.
  • Verify enrollment authorization and trusted client certificate controls.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
3

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
2Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/an/an/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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