Hackers obtain counterfeit TLS certificates for Google and other large services

Attackers hijacked three top-level domains and used their control to mint counterfeit TLS certificates for Google and other large organizations, Google said Tuesday. The attackers launched a series of attacks on the .gh, .sl, and .as country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) and then modified the DNS records for selected domains the registries issued. With the ability to receive and send traffic from those domains, the attackers created unauthorized certificates for “several Google domains” and “several leading global brands and widely used online services.” Google said it updated Chrome to block all certificates it has identified as counterfeit and worked with other certificate authorities to ensure other browsers did the same.

TLS certificates are the cryptographic credentials that underpin authentication and encryption protections for websites, mail servers, and other Internet infrastructure. These x.509 certificates use a digital signature to bind an identity, such as Google, to a public key. The certificate is also bound to a specific domain belonging to the identity.

The public key is publicly available, while the private key is held only by the website operator. When a connection shows that the keys match, the visiting party knows it’s connected to the authentic site rather than an impostor. Possession of unauthorized certificates allows attackers to cryptographically impersonate the affected infrastructure.

Google didn’t identify the affected domains it owns or name any of the other organizations whose domains were affected. It went on to caution both browser users and domain owners that it can’t be certain it has found all counterfeit certificates. The company is advising domain owners to check TLS transparency logs for the issuance of any certificates for site addresses they own.