CVE-2014-5843 in ADP AGENCY Immobiliare
Summary
by MITRE
The ADP AGENCY Immobiliare (aka com.wAdpagencyAndroid) application 0.1 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 • 09/03/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-5843 affects the ADP AGENCY Immobiliare Android application version 0.1, representing a critical security flaw in the mobile application's implementation of secure communications. This issue manifests as a failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating a significant attack surface that undermines the application's security posture. The vulnerability falls under the category of certificate verification failures, which are systematically categorized as CWE-295 in the Common Weakness Enumeration framework, specifically addressing the improper validation of certificate chains. The application's insecure implementation of SSL certificate validation creates a pathway for man-in-the-middle attacks where adversaries can intercept and manipulate communications between the mobile client and backend servers.
The technical flaw stems from the application's complete omission of SSL certificate verification mechanisms, allowing any certificate to be accepted regardless of its authenticity or trust chain. This primitive approach to secure communication eliminates the fundamental security guarantees that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide, including authentication, data integrity, and confidentiality. When an attacker successfully intercepts network traffic, they can present a malicious certificate that appears legitimate to the vulnerable application, thereby enabling them to decrypt and modify sensitive data in transit. The vulnerability directly maps to the ATT&CK technique T1041, which describes the use of man-in-the-middle attacks to capture and manipulate network traffic, and T1566, which encompasses social engineering tactics that leverage weak security implementations to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it exposes users to potential financial fraud, identity theft, and corporate espionage. Given that the application appears to be related to real estate services, it likely handles sensitive user information including personal identification details, contact information, and potentially financial data. The absence of certificate validation means that attackers can establish fraudulent connections with backend services, potentially redirecting user data to malicious servers or injecting false information into the application's data flow. This vulnerability is particularly concerning in mobile applications where users may be accessing sensitive services over unsecured networks, such as public wi-fi hotspots, where the risk of interception is significantly elevated. The lack of proper certificate validation creates a persistent security weakness that remains exploitable as long as the application continues to operate without proper security updates.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper SSL certificate validation mechanisms within the application's networking stack. The solution involves implementing certificate pinning, which ensures that the application only accepts specific certificates or certificate authorities, and proper certificate chain validation that verifies the complete trust path from the server certificate to a trusted root authority. Organizations should also implement certificate revocation checking mechanisms and ensure that the application validates certificate expiration dates and subject names against expected values. The remediation process should include comprehensive security testing, including penetration testing and vulnerability scanning, to verify that certificate validation is properly implemented and functioning. Additionally, developers should adopt secure coding practices that align with industry standards such as OWASP Mobile Security Project guidelines and NIST SP 800-53 security controls, which specifically address secure communication protocols and certificate management in mobile applications. Regular security audits and updates should be implemented to maintain the integrity of the certificate validation mechanisms against evolving threats and attack vectors.