# CVE-2024-56138: Timestamp signature generation lacks certificate revocation check in notion-go

> Attackers can bypass certificate revocation checks during timestamp generation, potentially causing denial of service in CI/CD environments via malicious countersignatures.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 13 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 14 Jan 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2024-56138, GHSA-45v3-38pc-874v, GO-2025-3381, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-56138

## What is CVE-2024-56138?

CVE-2024-56138 is a medium-severity vulnerability in notaryproject notation-go, published on 13 Jan 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

notion-go is a collection of libraries for supporting sign and verify OCI artifacts. Based on Notary Project specifications. This issue was identified during Quarkslab's audit of the timestamp feature. During the timestamp signature generation, the revocation status of the certificate(s) used to generate the timestamp signature was not verified. During timestamp signature generation, notation-go did not check the revocation status of the certificate chain used by the TSA. This oversight creates a vulnerability that could be exploited through a Man-in-The-Middle attack. An attacker could potentially use a compromised, intermediate, or revoked leaf certificate to generate a malicious countersignature, which would then be accepted and stored by `notation`. This could lead to denial of service scenarios, particularly in CI/CD environments during signature verification processes because timestamp signature would fail due to the presence of a revoked certificate(s) potentially disrupting operations. This issue has been addressed in release version 1.3.0-rc.2 and all users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-299 (Improper Check for Certificate Revocation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-56138?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/notaryproject/notation-go.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `github.com/notaryproject/notation-go` | Go | From 1.2.0-beta.1 | 1.3.0-rc.2 |
| `github.com/notaryproject/notation-go` | Go | From 1.2.0-beta.1 | 1.3.0-rc.2 |
| `github.com/notaryproject/notation-go` | Go | From 1.2.0-beta.1 | 1.3.0-rc.2 |

## How do I fix CVE-2024-56138?

Upgrade github.com/notaryproject/notation-go to 1.3.0-rc.2 or later.

## Is CVE-2024-56138 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-56138 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-56138 is a medium-severity vulnerability in notaryproject notation-go, published on 13 Jan 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-56138 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- github.com/notaryproject/notation-go (Go): affected from 1.2.0-beta.1; fixed in 1.3.0-rc.2
- github.com/notaryproject/notation-go (Go): affected from 1.2.0-beta.1; fixed in 1.3.0-rc.2
- github.com/notaryproject/notation-go (Go): affected from 1.2.0-beta.1; fixed in 1.3.0-rc.2

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56138/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56138/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-56138
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-56138
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-56138

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56138/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.