UNIVERSITY OF WEST ATTICA
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING AND INFORMATICS
University of West Attica · Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics
Information Technology Security
Vasileios Evangelos Athanasiou
Student ID: 19390005
Supervision
Supervisor: Ioanna Kantzavelou, Associate Professor
Co-supervisor: Angelos Georgoulas, Assistant Professor
Athens, June 2023
This laboratory project involves a comprehensive security analysis of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol across different categories of websites. The primary objective is to identify vulnerabilities related to outdated protocol versions, weak cipher suites, and known SSL/TLS attacks using both web-based and locally installed scanning tools.
| Section | Path / File | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | assign/ |
Official laboratory exercise specifications |
| 1.1 | assign/Excercise 5 (TLS Scanning)_2023.pdf |
Assignment description (English) |
| 1.2 | assign/Άσκηση 5 (TLS Scanning)_2023.pdf |
Assignment description (Greek) |
| 2 | docs/ |
Technical analysis and TLS security documentation |
| 2.1 | docs/TLS-Scanning.pdf |
TLS scanning report and results (English) |
| 2.2 | docs/Σάρωση-TLS.pdf |
TLS scanning report and results (Greek) |
| 3 | screens/ |
TLS scan outputs, certificate analysis, and vulnerability evidence |
| 3.1 | screens/*Home.png |
Target website home pages before scanning |
| 3.2 | screens/Scan-Python-*.png |
TLS scans executed via Python scripts |
| 3.3 | screens/Run-Python-Script-*.png |
Execution of custom TLS scanning scripts |
| 3.4 | screens/SSL-Report-*.png |
SSL/TLS report summaries per target |
| 3.5 | screens/Certificates*.png |
Certificate type and key analysis (RSA / EC) |
| 3.6 | screens/Forum-*.png |
Detected TLS weaknesses and misconfigurations |
| 4 | README.md |
Project documentation |
| 5 | INSTALL.md |
Usage instructions |
The security assessments were conducted in the following environment:
- Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04 (Linux Virtual Machine)
- Python Version: Python 2 (required for the A2SV tool)
Two main tools were utilized for TLS vulnerability scanning:
-
Qualys SSL Labs (Web Tool):
Performs in-depth analysis of public SSL/TLS server configurations, including certificate chains, protocol support, and cipher suites. -
A2SV (Auto Scanning to SSL Vulnerability):
A Python-based local scanning tool designed to detect common SSL/TLS vulnerabilities such as HeartBleed, CRIME, DROWN, and POODLE.
The analysis was performed on four different categories of websites:
- Online Store: https://www.e-shop.gr/
- News Website: https://www.newsbomb.gr/
- University Website: https://www.hua.gr/
- Suspicious Website: https://www.blackboxresale.com/
The scanners evaluated the presence of the following critical TLS/SSL vulnerabilities:
- CRIME & BREACH: Compression-based attacks that can leak sensitive data.
- HeartBleed: A severe vulnerability in the OpenSSL library allowing memory disclosure.
- POODLE: An attack exploiting fallback mechanisms to SSL 3.0.
- Weak Cipher Suites: Detection of insecure algorithms such as RC4.
- Protocol Support: Verification of continued support for deprecated TLS versions (TLS 1.0 and 1.1).
To perform a TLS vulnerability scan using the A2SV tool:
- Navigate to the tool’s directory:
cd a2sv - Execute the scan against a target IP address:
python2 a2sv.py -t [Target_IP_Address]
Several tested websites were limited to a “B” security grade due to continued support for TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1, which are considered deprecated and vulnerable compared to TLS 1.3.
Both scanning tools generally agreed on the detected vulnerabilities.
- Qualys SSL Labs provided more extensive details on certificates and server configuration.
- A2SV focused primarily on identifying specific exploit vectors and known TLS/SSL attacks.
This laboratory exercise demonstrates the importance of regularly auditing SSL/TLS configurations. Even well-known and widely used websites may expose unnecessary risk by supporting outdated protocols or weak cipher suites. Combining web-based and local scanning tools offers a more complete and reliable TLS security assessment.