CVE-2014-5557 in America's Economy for Phone
Summary
by MITRE
The America s Economy for Phone (aka air.gov.census.mobile.phone.americaseconomy) application 1.5.2 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 • 08/24/2024
The America s Economy for Phone application represents a mobile security vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the integrity of secure communications between mobile devices and remote servers. This vulnerability exists within version 1.5.2 of the Android application developed by air.gov.census.mobile.phone.americaseconomy, exposing users to significant risks during data transmission. The flaw specifically targets the application's certificate verification mechanisms, creating a critical weakness in the security infrastructure that protects sensitive user information.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of X.509 certificate validation within the application's SSL implementation. This means that when the application establishes secure connections to remote servers, it fails to authenticate the server certificates presented during the SSL handshake process. Without proper certificate verification, the application accepts any certificate presented by a server regardless of its legitimacy or trustworthiness. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-295, which describes improper certificate validation in security protocols, and represents a classic example of a man-in-the-middle attack vector where attackers can seamlessly intercept and manipulate communications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple data exposure, creating opportunities for sophisticated attackers to compromise user privacy and system integrity. An attacker positioned between the mobile device and the server can present a fraudulent certificate that appears legitimate to the vulnerable application, enabling them to decrypt and modify all communications between the user and the server. This allows for the theft of sensitive personal information, financial data, or any other information transmitted through the application. The vulnerability essentially eliminates the cryptographic protection that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide, rendering the entire secure communication channel ineffective.
From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to credential access and defense evasion. Attackers can leverage this flaw to establish persistent access to user accounts and data without detection, as the application's security mechanisms fail to identify malicious activities. The vulnerability also enables attackers to perform session hijacking, data tampering, and information disclosure attacks that would otherwise be prevented by proper certificate validation. Organizations using this application face significant risk of regulatory compliance violations, as the vulnerability creates exposure to data breaches that could result in substantial financial and reputational damage.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must focus on immediate application updates that implement proper certificate validation mechanisms. The recommended approach involves integrating robust X.509 certificate verification into the SSL/TLS implementation, ensuring that applications validate certificate chains against trusted certificate authorities and check certificate expiration dates and hostname matching. Organizations should also implement network-level monitoring to detect suspicious certificate behavior and establish secure communication protocols that enforce certificate pinning where appropriate. Additionally, users should be educated about the risks of using vulnerable applications and encouraged to update to patched versions immediately. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper cryptographic implementation in mobile applications and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing throughout the development lifecycle to prevent similar issues in future releases.