CVE-2014-3566: POODLE
A design flaw in the SSL 3.0 protocol's CBC block cipher padding, which is not deterministically validated. A man-in-the-middle attacker who can force a protocol downgrade to SSLv3 and induce a victim's browser to make many requests can decrypt one byte of secure cookie or session data at a time using a padding-oracle style attack.
View the authoritative record on NVD ↗Affected software
- Any client or server implementation that still negotiates or falls back to SSL 3.0
How it's exploited
As a network man-in-the-middle, interfere with the TLS handshake to force a fallback to SSLv3, then use attacker-controlled JavaScript in the victim's browser to trigger repeated HTTPS requests, manipulating padding bytes and observing whether the server accepts or rejects each modified request to decrypt one byte of a secure cookie per roughly 256 requests.
Severity
CVE-2014-3566 carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 3.4, rated Low. See how CVSS scoring works or score a vulnerability yourself with the free CVSS calculator.
Weakness type
CVE-2014-3566 is categorized under CWE-326, the general weakness pattern behind this specific vulnerability.
How TurboPentest tests for this
TurboPentest's automated black-box pentest actively probes for Inadequate Encryption Strength using testssl.sh to check the live TLS configuration for undersized keys and weak cipher suites, with no source code required. Connecting a GitHub repo adds white-box confirmation from IntegSec's Opengrep SAST rule pack, which carries 5 dedicated rules for this weakness.
Tools: testssl.sh
Remediation
Disable SSL 3.0 entirely on both servers and clients, and implement TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV so a genuine TLS-capable client and server cannot be forced to negotiate down to SSLv3.
Frequently asked questions
What is CVE-2014-3566?
A design flaw in the SSL 3.0 protocol's CBC block cipher padding, which is not deterministically validated. A man-in-the-middle attacker who can force a protocol downgrade to SSLv3 and induce a victim's browser to make many requests can decrypt one byte of secure cookie or session data at a time using a padding-oracle style attack.
How severe is CVE-2014-3566?
CVE-2014-3566 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 3.4 out of 10, rated Low.
What software is affected by CVE-2014-3566?
CVE-2014-3566 affects Any client or server implementation that still negotiates or falls back to SSL 3.0.
How do you fix CVE-2014-3566?
Disable SSL 3.0 entirely on both servers and clients, and implement TLS_FALLBACK_SCSV so a genuine TLS-capable client and server cannot be forced to negotiate down to SSLv3.
Where is the authoritative record for CVE-2014-3566?
The National Vulnerability Database (NVD) publishes the authoritative record for CVE-2014-3566 at https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-3566, including the current CVSS score, CWE mapping, and affected-configuration data.
Related CVEs
About this reference
These security references are maintained by IntegSec, an offensive-security firm whose team holds CISSP, OSCP, and OSCE certifications and has run thousands of penetration tests. Content is kept current as tools, standards, and attack techniques evolve.
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