Windows systems are also vulnerable to FREAK attacks

A cryptographic library used in all Windows versions is affected by a recently disclosed vulnerability in SSL/TLS implementations that allows man-in-the-middle attackers to force clients and servers to use weak encryption. Internet Explorer and other programs using the library are affected.

The FREAK (Factoring Attack on RSA-EXPORT Keys) vulnerability stems from a decision made in the 1990s to limit the strength of RSA encryption keys to 512 bits in SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) implementations intended for export in order to meet U.S. government rules on exports of encryption systems.

Those “export” cipher suites are no longer used today, but a team of researchers recently discovered that many servers still support them and some SSL/TLS clients, including Web browsers, can be forced to accept them because of bugs in the crypto libraries they rely on.

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