CVE-2014-5788 in Ninja Chicken Adventure Island
Summary
by MITRE
The Ninja Chicken Adventure Island (aka mominis.Generic_Android.Ninja_Chicken_Adventure_Island) application 1.1.1 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 • 09/01/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-5788 affects the Ninja Chicken Adventure Island Android application version 1.1.1, representing a critical security flaw in the application's secure communication implementation. This issue stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating a significant attack surface that adversaries can exploit to compromise user data integrity and confidentiality. The vulnerability specifically targets the certificate verification mechanism that should ensure the authenticity of servers communicating with the mobile application through encrypted channels.
This technical flaw constitutes a failure in the application's cryptographic security implementation, where the software neglects to perform proper certificate chain validation and trust verification processes. The absence of X.509 certificate validation means that the application accepts any certificate presented by a server without confirming its legitimacy through established trust anchors or certificate authorities. This weakness directly violates fundamental secure communication principles and creates an environment where malicious actors can establish fraudulent SSL connections with the application, effectively bypassing the intended security protections of the transport layer.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables comprehensive man-in-the-middle attack capabilities that can compromise sensitive user information. Attackers can craft malicious certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application, allowing them to decrypt and modify communications between the user and backend servers. This compromise can lead to unauthorized access to user accounts, theft of personal information, session hijacking, and potential lateral movement within affected systems. The vulnerability affects all users of the specific application version and poses a persistent threat as long as the flaw remains unpatched.
From a cybersecurity framework perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-295, which addresses "Improper Certificate Validation," and represents a clear violation of secure coding practices for mobile application development. The issue also maps to ATT&CK technique T1041, where adversaries use man-in-the-middle techniques to intercept and manipulate network communications. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating the application to a version that properly validates SSL certificates, implementing network-level monitoring to detect anomalous certificate behavior, and conducting security audits of other mobile applications to identify similar certificate validation weaknesses. The vulnerability underscores the critical importance of proper cryptographic implementation in mobile applications and highlights the need for comprehensive security testing during the development lifecycle to prevent such fundamental flaws from reaching production environments.