CVE-2014-5646 in Security- Antivirus Clean
Summary
by MITRE
The AMC Security- Antivirus, Clean (aka com.iobit.mobilecare) application 4.4.1 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 • 11/22/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-5646 affects the AMC Security Antivirus Clean application version 4.4.1 for Android devices, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communication protocols. This issue stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating a significant attack vector that compromises the integrity of encrypted communications between the mobile application and remote servers.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate verification mechanisms within the application's SSL implementation, allowing malicious actors to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting forged certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. This weakness directly violates fundamental security principles of certificate-based authentication and trust establishment in secure communication channels. The vulnerability operates at the transport layer security level, where the application should be validating certificate chains against trusted Certificate Authorities but instead accepts any certificate presented, including those generated by attackers.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability exposes users to severe risks including credential theft, data interception, and unauthorized access to sensitive information. Attackers can exploit this flaw to impersonate legitimate services and capture user credentials, personal data, or financial information transmitted through the vulnerable application. The impact extends beyond individual user privacy concerns to potentially enable broader attacks against connected systems and networks that rely on the compromised application for security functions. This vulnerability essentially undermines the entire security architecture of the application by removing the cryptographic verification that ensures server authenticity.
The flaw aligns with CWE-295, which specifically addresses "Improper Certificate Validation," and represents a classic example of insecure communication implementation that violates the principle of certificate pinning and trust validation. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1566.001 (Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment) and T1041 (Exfiltration Over C2 Channel) as attackers can leverage the compromised application to establish unauthorized communication channels. The vulnerability also corresponds to T1566.002 (Phishing: Spearphishing Link) when attackers create malicious certificates to redirect users to compromised services.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate application updates from the vendor to implement proper certificate validation mechanisms, along with network-level monitoring to detect anomalous SSL traffic patterns. Organizations should also consider implementing network segmentation and SSL inspection capabilities to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. Users should be advised to avoid using the vulnerable application until patches are deployed, and security teams should monitor for potential exploitation attempts through network traffic analysis and endpoint detection systems. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper certificate validation in mobile security applications and demonstrates how seemingly minor implementation flaws can create significant security risks in enterprise and consumer environments.