CVE-2014-6681 in Mahabharata Audiocast
Summary
by MITRE
The Mahabharata Audiocast (aka com.wordbox.mahabharataAudiocast) application 1.0 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 • 09/12/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6681 affects the Mahabharata Audiocast Android application version 1.0, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communications. 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 and system integrity. The vulnerability specifically targets the certificate verification process, which is fundamental to establishing trust in secure communications between mobile applications and remote servers.
From a technical perspective, the flaw manifests as the absence of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL implementation. When the application establishes connections to remote servers, it fails to verify the authenticity of the X.509 certificates presented by those servers. This omission allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting fraudulent certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. The certificate verification process typically involves checking certificate chains, validating signatures, and ensuring certificates are issued by trusted certificate authorities, but this application bypasses all such security measures. This weakness directly correlates to CWE-295, which addresses improper certificate validation in security protocols, and represents a fundamental failure in the application's security architecture.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables attackers to gain unauthorized access to sensitive user information and potentially manipulate application functionality. Mobile applications that fail to validate SSL certificates expose users to various attack vectors including credential theft, data exfiltration, and session hijacking. In the context of an audiocast application, this could result in unauthorized access to user preferences, listening history, account credentials, or even payment information if the application handles any financial transactions. The vulnerability is particularly concerning for mobile environments where users may connect to unsecured networks, increasing the likelihood of successful man-in-the-middle attacks. According to ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability maps to T1046 (Network Service Scanning) and T1566 (Phishing), as attackers can exploit the insecure connections to establish persistent access to user accounts.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address the fundamental flaw in certificate validation while maintaining application functionality. The primary solution involves implementing proper SSL certificate validation mechanisms that verify certificate chains, validate certificate signatures, and ensure certificates are issued by trusted authorities. Developers should implement certificate pinning techniques to prevent the acceptance of fraudulent certificates, even if they are technically valid. Additionally, the application should enforce strict certificate validation policies that include checking certificate expiration dates, verifying certificate subject names against expected server names, and implementing proper error handling for validation failures. Security best practices recommend implementing certificate validation at the application level rather than relying on default system behaviors, as mobile operating systems may not always enforce strict certificate validation for third-party applications. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring to detect anomalous certificate behavior and establish proper incident response procedures to address potential exploitation of this vulnerability. The remediation process should include comprehensive security testing of all network communications and regular security audits to ensure that similar vulnerabilities do not exist in other application components or future versions.