CVE-2014-5812 in VDM Officiel
Summary
by MITRE
The VDM Officiel (aka vdm.activities) application 5 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 • 09/02/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-5812 affects the VDM Officiel Android application version 5, specifically targeting its implementation of secure communication protocols. This flaw represents a critical security weakness in the application's approach to establishing trusted connections with remote servers. The vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS handshakes, creating an exploitable condition that undermines the fundamental security guarantees of encrypted communications.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate verification mechanisms within the application's SSL implementation. When the VDM Officiel application establishes connections to remote servers, it does not perform the necessary validation steps required to confirm that the server's certificate is legitimate and issued by a trusted certificate authority. This omission places the application in a state where it cannot distinguish between genuine servers and malicious impostors, effectively disabling the cryptographic protection mechanisms that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-295, which specifically addresses "Improper Certificate Validation" in security protocols.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a significant attack surface that enables man-in-the-middle adversaries to compromise the application's security posture. Attackers can exploit this weakness by presenting crafted certificates to the vulnerable application, causing it to accept fraudulent server identities without proper verification. The implications extend beyond simple data interception, as the application may be tricked into transmitting sensitive user information to malicious servers that masquerade as legitimate services. This vulnerability particularly impacts the confidentiality and integrity of data exchanged between users and the application's backend services, potentially exposing personal information, authentication credentials, or other sensitive data.
The security implications of this vulnerability align with several ATT&CK techniques including T1046 for network service scanning and T1566 for credential harvesting through social engineering. The compromised application becomes a potential vector for data exfiltration, as attackers can establish false trust relationships with users while simultaneously capturing their communications. Organizations relying on this application for sensitive operations face significant risk of data breaches and privacy violations. The vulnerability also demonstrates poor security hygiene in mobile application development, where certificate pinning and proper SSL validation should be fundamental requirements for any application handling sensitive information.
Mitigation strategies should focus on implementing proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL stack. Developers should ensure that all X.509 certificates are validated against trusted certificate authorities and that certificate chain validation is performed correctly. The implementation should include certificate pinning where appropriate to further strengthen trust relationships. Additionally, the application should enforce strict certificate verification policies and reject connections when certificate validation fails. Security reviews should include comprehensive testing of SSL/TLS implementations to identify similar vulnerabilities in other cryptographic components. Regular security assessments and code reviews are essential to prevent such flaws from persisting in mobile applications and to maintain compliance with industry security standards and best practices.