CVE-2014-6766 in Afro-Beat
Summary
by MITRE
The Afro-Beat (aka com.zero.themelock.tambourine) application 0.2 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 • 09/15/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6766 affects the Afro-Beat Android application version 0.2, 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 gap in the security model that undermines the fundamental purpose of secure communications.
This technical deficiency places the application at significant risk of man-in-the-middle attacks where malicious actors can intercept and manipulate communications between the mobile device and backend servers. The absence of proper certificate verification means that the application will accept any certificate presented by a server, regardless of its legitimacy or trustworthiness. Attackers can exploit this weakness by presenting forged certificates that appear to be from legitimate services, thereby deceiving the application into establishing connections with malicious servers while believing it is communicating securely with trusted endpoints.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables attackers to obtain sensitive information that may include user credentials, personal data, financial information, or other confidential content transmitted through the application. This weakness directly violates security principles established in industry standards such as CWE-295, which addresses improper certificate validation, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041 for data compression and T1071.004 for application layer protocol usage. The vulnerability essentially nullifies the cryptographic protections that SSL/TLS is designed to provide, leaving users exposed to various forms of attack including credential theft, session hijacking, and data manipulation.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application. The fix should involve implementing certificate pinning, where the application explicitly trusts only specific certificates or certificate authorities rather than accepting any valid certificate. Additionally, developers should implement certificate verification routines that check certificate validity periods, issuer authenticity, and certificate chain integrity. The solution must also include proper error handling for certificate validation failures, ensuring that the application terminates connections when certificate verification fails rather than proceeding with untrusted communications. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring to detect anomalous certificate behavior and establish security policies that require regular security assessments of mobile applications to identify similar vulnerabilities in other software components.