General Security

Security

6 sections
13 source tickets

Last synthesized: 2026-02-13 02:53 | Model: gpt-5-mini
Table of Contents

1. TLS/SSL certificate issues: hostname mismatches, expired certs, and provisioning delays

5 tickets

2. Service-side or transient security warnings for cloud services and documents

2 tickets

3. Third‑party installer and extension provenance reviews

2 tickets

4. Unexpected local artifacts and suspicious desktop folders (TokenFactory)

1 tickets

5. Host‑header injection risk in HTTP→HTTPS forwarding (redirects)

1 tickets

6. Physical access token and temporary badge provisioning

2 tickets

1. TLS/SSL certificate issues: hostname mismatches, expired certs, and provisioning delays
95% confidence
Problem Pattern

Users reported HTTPS failures: browser security warnings (for example “Your connection isn't private”), pages blocked, or sites becoming unreachable in modern browsers. Observed root causes included certificate hostname mismatches (www vs non‑www), expired or not‑yet‑provisioned TLS/SSL certificates (including wildcard certificates approaching expiry), and servers presenting obsolete/insecure TLS stacks (supporting TLS 1.0/1.1), vulnerable OpenSSL versions (CVE-2016-2107), or weak cipher suites that modern browsers reject. Affected endpoints included public and internal domains, application endpoints, and legacy web servers.

Solution

Multiple remediation outcomes were recorded depending on the root cause. For hostname mismatches, access succeeded when users switched to the certificate‑matched domain (e.g., removing the www prefix). Expired public certificates were worked around by using an alternate valid domain while email templates and public links were scheduled to be updated. Internal repository certificate issues were resolved by submitting a CSR, obtaining specialist approval, completing certificate provisioning, and activating the domain. A wildcard certificate for *.iu.org was renewed, a new ca‑bundle was created, and the new certificate and ca‑bundle were delivered to named system owners on 2025-01-03 with follow-up requests for replacement on their systems (follow-up noted on 2025-01-14; no confirmation was recorded in the ticket). A separate outage where modern browsers could not reach https://redmine-se.iubh.de was diagnosed as a legacy/unpatched server presenting TLS 1.0/1.1, weak cipher suites and an OpenSSL implementation vulnerable to CVE-2016-2107; the ticket captured the security and protocol findings and identified vendor/legacy server involvement (no remediation was recorded in the ticket).

2. Service-side or transient security warnings for cloud services and documents
90% confidence
Problem Pattern

Users saw service or browser security warnings when authenticating to SaaS apps or opening cloud documents: transient login/security alerts for Viva Goals and persistent content‑risk popups when opening SharePoint‑hosted documents or email attachments affected multiple users.

Solution

Two distinct outcomes were observed: the SharePoint/document security warnings were escalated to Microsoft Support and were resolved by a Microsoft service‑side fix (noted in Microsoft 365 Service Health). The Viva Goals login warnings were transient and cleared without configuration changes after approximately two days; a temporary browser 'Advanced → Proceed' bypass had been used by some users during the outage.

Source Tickets (2)
3. Third‑party installer and extension provenance reviews
75% confidence
Problem Pattern

Requests to assess the security and provenance of third‑party software components (unsigned Windows executables and a Visual Studio AMPscript extension) where running the binaries on institutional machines was not acceptable and the components appeared unmaintained.

Solution

For the Visual Studio AMPscript extension a repository and community resources were located and the extension source/code was reviewed; no security‑related issues were identified in that assessment. For an externally provided verification plugin (.exe) the download domain and link were reviewed and the binary was scanned with Windows Defender; the scan did not flag malware and the site/link was assessed for legitimacy based on available information.

Source Tickets (2)
4. Unexpected local artifacts and suspicious desktop folders (TokenFactory)
95% confidence
Problem Pattern

Users reported unexpected desktop artifacts (a 'TokenFactory' folder with dated files) and suspected malicious activity after seeing unfamiliar files or references to Safari/Mac; the symptom was the presence of a suspicious/unknown folder on the desktop.

Solution

A host investigation and screenshot review determined the folder was most likely created by an accidentally downloaded webpage or was a known Microsoft bug affecting some clients. No evidence of malicious activity was found and the item was classified as non‑malicious; the user was advised that the folder could be deleted or ignored.

Source Tickets (1)
5. Host‑header injection risk in HTTP→HTTPS forwarding (redirects)
90% confidence
Problem Pattern

HTTP-to-HTTPS forwarding endpoints did not validate the Host header, allowing redirects to follow arbitrary Host header values and creating host‑header injection / arbitrary redirect behavior for specific subdomains.

Solution

Investigation traced the affected DNS A records to a third‑party host (Dogado, IP 31.47.247.109). DNS entries were temporarily removed during analysis and then restored when still required. The responsible team evaluated the finding and took a 'Won't Do' decision; no configuration changes were applied to validate the Host header or alter the redirects.

Source Tickets (1)
6. Physical access token and temporary badge provisioning
95% confidence
Problem Pattern

In‑person requests to enable or issue physical access credentials: activation of Kentix RFID transponders after presentation to a reader, and short‑term badge issuance for shared workspaces.

Solution

A presented Kentix RFID transponder (B119) was registered in the Kentix system and the issuance recorded in the Kentix Excel list. Temporary Flexdesk access was granted by issuing physical badge number 12 for the requested period; entries were logged and the tasks were closed as completed.

Source Tickets (2)
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