CVE-2014-5931 in Stop
Summary
by MITRE
The Stop & Shop SCAN IT! Mobile (aka com.modivmedia.scanitss) application 7.21.00 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 • 09/07/2024
The CVE-2014-5931 vulnerability affects the Stop & Shop SCAN IT! mobile application version 7.21.00 for Android devices, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communications. This vulnerability stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating a significant attack surface that enables malicious actors to perform man-in-the-middle attacks against users of the application. The flaw specifically impacts the application's certificate verification process, which is a fundamental security mechanism designed to ensure that communications occur with legitimate servers rather than with compromised intermediaries.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the application's cryptographic library handling, where the SSL/TLS certificate validation routines are either disabled, bypassed, or improperly configured. When an Android application establishes a secure connection to a remote server, it should verify the server's X.509 certificate against a trusted certificate authority to confirm the server's identity and ensure the integrity of the communication channel. The Stop & Shop application fails to perform this essential verification step, allowing attackers to present forged certificates that appear legitimate to the application. This weakness directly violates the principles of secure communication as defined in industry standards such as CWE-295, which specifically addresses improper certificate validation in SSL/TLS implementations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables attackers to gain access to sensitive user information including personal identifiers, transaction data, and potentially financial details processed through the application. Mobile banking applications, retail shopping platforms, and any service handling sensitive user data are particularly vulnerable to such attacks, as they often transmit confidential information over network connections. The vulnerability creates a persistent threat vector that remains active as long as the application is installed on a device, allowing attackers to intercept communications without requiring complex exploitation techniques. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in environments where mobile devices are frequently used for sensitive transactions, such as retail checkout systems or mobile commerce applications.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041, which describes data transmission through command and control channels, and T1566, which covers social engineering attacks that leverage man-in-the-middle capabilities. The attack surface created by this flaw allows adversaries to establish persistent surveillance of user activities and data flows, potentially enabling more sophisticated attacks such as credential theft, session hijacking, or financial fraud. The vulnerability also demonstrates a lack of proper security controls in mobile application development, particularly in the area of network security implementation and certificate validation. Organizations implementing mobile applications must ensure that all network communications utilize proper certificate validation mechanisms and follow security best practices as outlined in NIST SP 800-52 for certificate management and SSL/TLS implementation standards. The remediation process requires complete reimplementation of the SSL/TLS certificate validation logic, ensuring that applications properly verify certificate chains against trusted authorities and implement appropriate certificate pinning strategies to prevent downgrade attacks and certificate forgery.
The vulnerability represents a fundamental failure in secure coding practices and mobile application security architecture, where the application's trust model is compromised at the network communication layer. This type of flaw commonly occurs in applications that prioritize user experience or development speed over security considerations, leading to the omission of critical security controls in the application's network security implementation. The specific nature of the vulnerability makes it particularly challenging to detect through standard security testing, as it requires specialized tools and knowledge to identify the absence of certificate validation in mobile applications. Organizations should implement comprehensive mobile application security testing that includes certificate validation verification, network traffic monitoring, and secure communication protocol assessment to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being introduced in future application releases.