CVE-2014-6769 in Meteo Belgique
Summary
by MITRE
The Meteo Belgique (aka com.mobilesoft.belgiumweather) application 3.2 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 • 09/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6769 affects the Meteo Belgique Android application version 3.2, 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 integrity. The vulnerability directly impacts the application's ability to establish trust with remote servers, fundamentally undermining the security model designed to protect sensitive information exchanged between the mobile client and backend services.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate verification mechanisms within the application's SSL implementation. When the Meteo Belgique application establishes connections to its remote servers, it fails to perform the essential X.509 certificate validation steps that should confirm the server's identity against trusted certificate authorities. This omission places the application in violation of fundamental security principles for secure communications, as outlined in industry standards such as CWE-295 which specifically addresses improper certificate validation. The vulnerability creates a man-in-the-middle attack vector where malicious actors can present forged certificates to intercept and manipulate communications between the mobile application and its intended servers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception to encompass comprehensive information disclosure and potential system compromise. Attackers capable of positioning themselves between the user's device and the application servers can seamlessly impersonate legitimate services, enabling them to capture sensitive user data, session tokens, and potentially personal information collected through the weather application. This flaw particularly affects users who rely on the application for weather forecasts and related services, as the compromised communication channel could allow attackers to access personal location data, user preferences, and other metadata that might be transmitted during normal application usage patterns. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041 which describes data from network connections, and represents a critical failure in the application's defense-in-depth strategy.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL/TLS stack. The recommended approach involves implementing robust certificate pinning techniques that either validate server certificates against a trusted certificate authority or maintain a whitelist of known good certificates for the application's endpoints. Organizations should also consider implementing certificate transparency checks and ensuring that the application performs comprehensive validation of certificate chains, expiration dates, and signature verification before establishing secure connections. The fix should address the root cause by ensuring that all SSL/TLS connections in the application require proper certificate validation, thereby preventing the man-in-the-middle scenarios that this vulnerability enables. Additionally, security reviews should be conducted to ensure that similar certificate validation issues do not exist in other network communication components within the application.