CVE-2014-5850 in Kaave Fali
Summary
by MITRE
The Kaave Fali (aka com.didilabs.kaavefali) application 1.5.1 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-2014-5850 affects the Kaave Fali Android application version 1.5.1, presenting a critical security flaw in the application's handling of secure communications. This issue stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating a significant exposure that undermines the fundamental security assurances typically provided by secure communication protocols. The vulnerability resides in the application's cryptographic implementation where it accepts any certificate presented by a server without performing the essential verification steps required to establish trust.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL/TLS implementation. When the application establishes connections to remote servers, it does not perform certificate chain validation, issuer verification, or signature checks that are standard requirements for secure communication. This omission allows attackers to exploit the trust model by presenting malicious certificates that appear to be from legitimate servers. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-295, which specifically addresses "Improper Certificate Validation" and falls under the broader category of weak cryptographic practices in mobile applications. Attackers can leverage this weakness to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by intercepting communications and presenting forged certificates that the application accepts without question.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching for users of the affected application. Sensitive information transmitted through the application becomes vulnerable to interception and modification by malicious actors who can establish fake server identities. This exposure compromises the confidentiality and integrity of user data, potentially including personal information, login credentials, financial data, or other sensitive content that users expect to be protected through secure communication channels. The vulnerability affects all communication endpoints within the application, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited across multiple data transmission scenarios. From an attack perspective, this flaw aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041, which covers "Exfiltration Over C2 Channel," and represents a classic example of how weak certificate validation can enable data theft and system compromise.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL/TLS stack. Developers should implement certificate pinning to ensure that only specific certificates or certificate authorities are accepted, rather than accepting any certificate from any server. The application must perform complete certificate chain validation including issuer verification, expiration date checks, and signature validation against trusted certificate authorities. Additionally, the implementation should include proper error handling for certificate validation failures to prevent the application from continuing operations with untrusted certificates. Security updates should be deployed immediately to address this vulnerability, and users should be informed about the risks associated with continuing to use the vulnerable version of the application. Organizations should also consider implementing network-level monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts and establish proper incident response procedures for handling certificate-related security incidents.