CVE-2014-5638 in Mobile
Summary
by MITRE
The Huntington Mobile (aka com.huntington.m) application 2.1.222 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 • 08/27/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2014-5638 represents a critical security flaw in the Huntington Mobile Android application version 2.1.222 that fundamentally undermines the application's ability to establish secure communications with backend servers. This weakness stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS handshakes, creating a significant attack surface that malicious actors can exploit to compromise user data and system integrity. The vulnerability directly impacts the application's cryptographic security implementation and represents a failure in proper certificate validation mechanisms that are essential for maintaining secure communications in mobile banking applications.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate verification within the application's SSL/TLS implementation, allowing the application to accept any certificate presented by a server without proper authentication. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-295 category of "Improper Certificate Validation" which specifically addresses weaknesses in how applications handle certificate verification processes. The application's failure to validate certificate chains, expiration dates, and issuer authenticity creates a pathway for attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting forged certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. This flaw is particularly dangerous in mobile banking applications where sensitive financial data is transmitted and stored.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it enables attackers to intercept and manipulate communications between the mobile application and backend servers. An attacker positioned between the user's device and the banking server can present a malicious certificate that the application accepts without verification, allowing them to decrypt and modify sensitive transactions, account information, and personal data. This vulnerability directly maps to ATT&CK technique T1041 by enabling network traffic interception and can be classified under T1566 as a credential harvesting attack that compromises user authentication. The implications extend beyond simple data theft to include potential financial fraud, identity theft, and complete compromise of user banking sessions.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both the immediate security gap and implement comprehensive certificate validation mechanisms. Organizations should implement proper certificate pinning techniques to ensure that only trusted certificates from specific authorities are accepted, along with robust certificate chain validation that verifies certificate signatures, expiration dates, and trust anchors. The application should be updated to perform full certificate validation including checking certificate revocation status through OCSP or CRL checks, and implementing proper error handling for certificate validation failures. Additionally, security monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual certificate behavior patterns, and regular security audits should be conducted to ensure proper implementation of cryptographic security measures. This vulnerability underscores the critical importance of following security best practices for mobile application development and the necessity of proper cryptographic implementation in financial applications to prevent such severe security breaches.