CAcert should not be trusted by default

[Luke Faraone]

Ubuntu is one of the few distributions shipping CAcert as a trusted certificate. Many distributions are considering[1] whether to remove CAcert, and Mozilla closed the RFE[2] for CAcert in 2008, which was opened in 2003.

Concerns were expressed about CAcert's code quality[3], and their audit appears to be stalled.

In the past, it appears that Ubuntu disabled[4] CAcert, but this is no longer the case. It may be wise to do so again.

[1]:http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=718434#50
[2]: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=215243
[3]: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=718434#45
[4]: http://wiki.cacert.org/InclusionStatus?highlight=Ubuntu

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ca-certificates - 20130906ubuntu2

---------------
ca-certificates (20130906ubuntu2) trusty; urgency=medium

  * No longer ship cacert.org certificates. (LP: #1258286)
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Wed, 19 Feb 2014 15:57:25 -0500

[Michael Shuler (mshuler)]

Was CAcert dropped from NSS in Ubuntu?

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

Not yet, no. But it will be.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package nss - 2:3.15.4-1ubuntu6

---------------
nss (2:3.15.4-1ubuntu6) trusty; urgency=medium

  * No longer ship cacert.org certificates. (LP: #1258286)
    - removed debian/patches/95_add_spi+cacert_ca_certs.patch
    - added debian/patches/95_add_spi_certs.patch
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Thu, 20 Feb 2014 07:38:51 -0500

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

the removal breaks the ca-certificates-java build. should be fixed for all active releases.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ca-certificates-java - 20130815ubuntu1

---------------
ca-certificates-java (20130815ubuntu1) trusty; urgency=medium

  * UpdatesCertificatesTest.java: Fix ftbfs by swapping out the no longer
    shipped cacert.org certificate with a Thawte one. (LP: #1258286)
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Thu, 20 Mar 2014 07:41:31 -0400

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ca-certificates - 20130906ubuntu0.13.10.1

---------------
ca-certificates (20130906ubuntu0.13.10.1) saucy-security; urgency=medium

  * Update ca-certificates database to 20130906 (LP: #1257265):
    - backport changes from the Ubuntu 14.04 20130906ubuntu1 package
    - No longer ship cacert.org certificates (LP: #1258286)
    - mozilla/certdata2pem.py: Work around openssl issue by shipping both
      versions of the same signed roots. Previously, the script would
      simply overwrite the first one found in the certdata.txt with the
      later one since they both have the same CKA_LABEL, resulting in
      identical filenames. (LP: #1014640, LP: #1031333)
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Thu, 06 Feb 2014 17:04:56 -0500

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ca-certificates - 20130906ubuntu0.12.04.1

---------------
ca-certificates (20130906ubuntu0.12.04.1) precise-security; urgency=medium

  * Update ca-certificates database to 20130906 (LP: #1257265):
    - backport changes from the Ubuntu 14.04 20130906ubuntu1 package
    - No longer ship cacert.org certificates (LP: #1258286)
    - No longer ship obsolete debconf.org certificates
    - mozilla/certdata2pem.py: Work around openssl issue by shipping both
      versions of the same signed roots. Previously, the script would
      simply overwrite the first one found in the certdata.txt with the
      later one since they both have the same CKA_LABEL, resulting in
      identical filenames. (LP: #1014640, LP: #1031333)
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Thu, 06 Feb 2014 17:39:43 -0500

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ca-certificates - 20130906ubuntu0.10.04.1

---------------
ca-certificates (20130906ubuntu0.10.04.1) lucid-security; urgency=medium

  * Update ca-certificates database to 20130906 (LP: #1257265, LP: #1271357):
    - backport changes from the Ubuntu 14.04 20130906ubuntu1 package
    - No longer ship cacert.org certificates (LP: #1258286)
    - No longer ship obsolete debconf.org certificates
    - No longer ship expired brasil.gov.br certificates
    - No longer ship expired signet.pl certificates
    - No longer ship gouv.fr certificates, now part of mozilla bundle
    - No longer ship telesec.de certificates, now part of mozilla bundle
    - mozilla/certdata2pem.py: Work around openssl issue by shipping both
      versions of the same signed roots. Previously, the script would
      simply overwrite the first one found in the certdata.txt with the
      later one since they both have the same CKA_LABEL, resulting in
      identical filenames. (LP: #1014640, LP: #1031333)
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:58:53 -0500

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ca-certificates - 20130906ubuntu0.12.10.1

---------------
ca-certificates (20130906ubuntu0.12.10.1) quantal-security; urgency=medium

  * Update ca-certificates database to 20130906 (LP: #1257265):
    - backport changes from the Ubuntu 14.04 20130906ubuntu1 package
    - No longer ship cacert.org certificates (LP: #1258286)
    - No longer ship obsolete debconf.org certificates
    - mozilla/certdata2pem.py: Work around openssl issue by shipping both
      versions of the same signed roots. Previously, the script would
      simply overwrite the first one found in the certdata.txt with the
      later one since they both have the same CKA_LABEL, resulting in
      identical filenames. (LP: #1014640, LP: #1031333)
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Thu, 06 Feb 2014 17:23:27 -0500

[luckyrings (d8f2)]

Sorry guy, I just have to comment. I am asking again, why should CAcert be removed? The reason why it should be removed is just because of unprooven cncerns about CAcert's code quality and the audit which appears to be stalled? I guess that Ubuntu responsible should contact CAcert to get invitation in their internal auditation process first before doing so. And generally I have to add again. If this is the only reason, then should be also removed the other CA Certificates which use also dubious methods for providing certificates or have weak identification checks for customers.

[Bas van den Dikkenberg (bas-dikkenberg)]

I am part of cacert community and access enginer for cacert and i also want to know wath the reason is for removing cacert certificates.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package nss - 3.15.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.2

---------------
nss (3.15.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.2) precise-security; urgency=medium

  * SECURITY UPDATE: incorrect IDNA wildcard handling
    - debian/patches/CVE-2014-1492.patch: conform to RFC 6125 in
      nss/lib/certdb/certdb.c.
    - CVE-2014-1492
  * No longer ship cacert.org certificates. (LP: #1258286)
    - removed debian/patches/95_add_spi+cacert_ca_certs.patch
    - added debian/patches/95_add_spi_certs.patch
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Wed, 02 Apr 2014 10:22:10 -0400

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package nss - 3.15.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.2

---------------
nss (3.15.4-0ubuntu0.12.10.2) quantal-security; urgency=medium

  * SECURITY UPDATE: incorrect IDNA wildcard handling
    - debian/patches/CVE-2014-1492.patch: conform to RFC 6125 in
      nss/lib/certdb/certdb.c.
    - CVE-2014-1492
  * No longer ship cacert.org certificates. (LP: #1258286)
    - removed debian/patches/95_add_spi+cacert_ca_certs.patch
    - added debian/patches/95_add_spi_certs.patch
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Wed, 02 Apr 2014 10:21:09 -0400

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package nss - 2:3.15.4-0ubuntu0.13.10.2

---------------
nss (2:3.15.4-0ubuntu0.13.10.2) saucy-security; urgency=medium

  * SECURITY UPDATE: incorrect IDNA wildcard handling
    - debian/patches/CVE-2014-1492.patch: conform to RFC 6125 in
      nss/lib/certdb/certdb.c.
    - CVE-2014-1492
  * No longer ship cacert.org certificates. (LP: #1258286)
    - removed debian/patches/95_add_spi+cacert_ca_certs.patch
    - added debian/patches/95_add_spi_certs.patch
 -- Marc Deslauriers <email address hidden> Wed, 02 Apr 2014 10:19:23 -0400

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

quantal has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the quantal task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

saucy has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the saucy task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".