CVE-2014-5558 in Hard Time
Summary
by MITRE
The Hard Time (Prison Sim) (aka air.HardTime) application 1.111 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 vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-5558 affects the Hard Time (Prison Sim) Android application version 1.111, representing a critical security flaw in the application's secure communication implementation. This issue resides within the application's SSL/TLS certificate verification mechanism, which is fundamental to establishing trust between mobile applications and remote servers. The flaw allows malicious actors to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting crafted certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application, thereby undermining the entire security infrastructure designed to protect user data during network communications.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL handshake procedures. According to CWE-295, this represents a weakness in certificate validation where the application accepts any certificate without proper verification of the certificate authority, expiration dates, or domain name matching. The vulnerability specifically manifests when the application establishes secure connections to remote servers for data synchronization, user authentication, or content delivery. Attackers can exploit this by setting up malicious intermediaries that present forged certificates signed by trusted but compromised certificate authorities, allowing them to decrypt and manipulate all data transmitted between the application and legitimate servers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables comprehensive surveillance and data manipulation capabilities for attackers. Mobile applications that rely on secure communication channels for user authentication, personal data storage, or transaction processing become particularly vulnerable when such certificate verification failures exist. The attack vector requires minimal sophistication, as attackers only need to position themselves between the mobile device and the target server, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in public network environments such as coffee shops, airports, or any location where users might connect to unsecured wireless networks. This flaw directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041, which describes secure channel protocols being used to bypass security controls, and T1566, which covers spearphishing attacks that can establish initial compromise through certificate manipulation.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both immediate remediation and long-term security architecture improvements. The primary solution involves implementing proper certificate pinning mechanisms within the application, ensuring that only specific, trusted certificates or certificate authorities are accepted for secure communications. This approach, as recommended by OWASP Mobile Security Project, prevents attackers from using forged certificates even if they can intercept network traffic. Additionally, the application should implement certificate validation routines that check certificate expiration dates, verify the certificate chain of trust, and ensure domain name matching between the certificate and the target server. Network administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring and alerting systems to detect unusual certificate validation patterns or potential man-in-the-middle activity. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of proper cryptographic implementation in mobile applications, as highlighted by industry standards such as NIST SP 800-52, which emphasizes the need for robust certificate management and validation processes in secure communications.