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________________________________________________________________________________
                   Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
 
Bulletin Number:        #00198
Date:                   October 24, 2000
Cross-Ref:
Title:                  Browser Certificates
________________________________________________________________________________

The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS IS." 
Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information 
contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, 
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR 
IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE 
HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

IN NO EVENT WILL SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, 
PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL 
OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY 
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN 
THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF 
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law, 
void, or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, then such provisions are waived 
to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in 
such jurisdiction.
________________________________________________________________________________

1.  Bulletin Topics

    Sun advises of a potential compromise of 2 specific security certificates
    which had limited distribution. 

    Sun recommends that you follow the directions found at 
    http://sunsolve5.sun.com/secbull/certificate_howto.html
    to determine if your web browser has accepted any of the potentially 
    compromised certificates.

2.  Who is Affected

    A web browser that has accepted a Sun certificate with one the following 
    serial numbers:

    3181 B12D C422 5DAC A340 CF86 2710 ABE6 (Internet Explorer)
    17:05:FB:13:A2:2F:9A:F3:C1:30:F5:62:6E:12:50:4C (Netscape) 

3.  Understanding the Vulnerability

    Web browsers accept security certificates from trusted sources.  A specific
    certificate from Sun may have received outside exposure.

    Systems that encounter this certificate are potentially vulnerable to attack
    from malicious applets, applications or components.


4.  Corrective Action

    Follow the instructions at 
    http://sunsolve5.sun.com/secbull/certificate_howto.html
    to determine if your browser has accepted one of the potentially compromised
    certificates.  If your browser contains this particular certificate, follow 
    the instructions to remove it.
 
_______________________________________________________________________________    
APPENDICES

A.  Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers at:
    
    http://sunsolve.sun.com/securitypatch
    
B.  Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available at:

    ftp://sunsolve.sun.com/pub/patches/CHECKSUMS

C.  Sun security bulletins are available at:

    http://sunsolve.sun.com/security

D.  Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key is available at:

    http://sunsolve.sun.com/pgpkey.txt
                                    
E.  To report or inquire about a security problem with Sun software, contact 
    one or more of the following:
  
        - Your local Sun answer centers
        - Your representative computer security response team, such as CERT 
        - Sun Security Coordination Team. Send email to:
         
                security-alert@sun.com

F.  To receive information or subscribe to our CWS (Customer Warning System) 
    mailing list, send email to:
    
                security-alert@sun.com
   
    with a subject line (not body) containing one of the following commands:

        Command         Information Returned/Action Taken
        _______         _________________________________

        help            An explanation of how to get information
        
        key             Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key

        list            A list of current security topics

        query [topic]   The email is treated as an inquiry and is forwarded to 
                        the Security Coordination Team

        report [topic]  The email is treated as a security report and is
                        forwarded to the Security Coordination Team. Please 
                        encrypt sensitive mail using Sun Security Coordination
                        Team's PGP key

        send topic      A short status summary or bulletin. For example, to 
                        retrieve a Security Bulletin #00138, supply the 
                        following in the subject line (not body):
        
                                send #138

        subscribe       Sender is added to our mailing list.  To subscribe, 
                        supply the following in the subject line (not body):

                                subscribe cws your-email-address

                        Note that your-email-address should be substituted
                        by your email address.

        unsubscribe     Sender is removed from the CWS mailing list.
________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright 2000 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun, 
Sun Microsystems, Solaris and SunOS are trademarks or registered trademarks 
of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. This 
Security Bulletin may be reproduced and distributed, provided that this 
Security Bulletin is not modified in any way and is attributed to 
Sun Microsystems, Inc. and provided that such reproduction and distribution 
is performed for non-commercial purposes.

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