CVE-2014-2993 in Birebin.com app
Summary
by MITRE
The Birebin.com application for Android does not verify X.509 certificates from SSL servers, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof servers and obtain sensitive information via a crafted certificate.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/12/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-2993 affects the Birebin.com Android application and represents a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communication protocols. This weakness stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating an exploitable condition that fundamentally undermines the security of data transmission between the mobile client and remote servers. The vulnerability specifically impacts the certificate verification process, which is a fundamental component of the Transport Layer Security protocol stack designed to ensure authentication and data integrity.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL implementation. When the Android application establishes a secure connection to a server, it should verify that the server's X.509 certificate is properly signed by a trusted Certificate Authority and that the certificate's subject matches the server's domain name. However, the Birebin.com application bypasses these critical validation steps entirely, allowing any certificate to be accepted regardless of its authenticity or trustworthiness. This implementation error creates a dangerous trust model where the application accepts certificates without proper scrutiny, making it susceptible to various attack vectors that exploit this fundamental security gap.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it enables sophisticated man-in-the-middle attacks that can compromise user data and system integrity. Attackers can exploit this weakness by presenting forged certificates to unsuspecting users, effectively allowing them to impersonate legitimate servers and intercept or manipulate sensitive information transmitted between the mobile application and its backend services. This vulnerability affects the confidentiality and integrity of communications, potentially exposing user credentials, personal data, financial information, and other sensitive content that the application handles during normal operation. The vulnerability directly violates the core security principles of authentication and data protection that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to enforce.
From a cybersecurity perspective, this vulnerability maps directly to CWE-295, which describes "Improper Certificate Validation" in security protocols, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for credential harvesting through phishing and man-in-the-middle attacks. The flaw represents a failure in the application's secure coding practices and demonstrates a critical oversight in the implementation of cryptographic security measures. Organizations implementing mobile security solutions must understand that such vulnerabilities can be exploited to compromise entire user sessions and potentially gain access to backend systems that rely on the integrity of client-server communications. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of proper certificate pinning mechanisms and robust SSL/TLS implementation practices that are essential for maintaining trust in mobile application security.
The recommended mitigations for this vulnerability involve implementing proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL/TLS stack. Developers should ensure that all X.509 certificates are validated against trusted certificate authorities and that certificate chains are properly verified. The application should implement certificate pinning to prevent the acceptance of unauthorized certificates, and should incorporate proper error handling for certificate validation failures. Additionally, security reviews and penetration testing should be conducted to identify and remediate similar implementation flaws in other cryptographic components. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring solutions to detect potential man-in-the-middle attacks that exploit such vulnerabilities in their mobile applications.