CVE-2014-6823 in kuailecaidengmi
Summary
by MITRE
The kuailecaidengmi (aka com.licai.kuailecaidengmi) application 1.7.12.15 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 • 09/18/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6823 affects the kuailecaidengmi Android application version 1.7.12.15, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communication protocols. 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 and confidentiality. The vulnerability specifically targets the certificate verification process, which is fundamental to establishing trust in secure communications between mobile applications and remote servers. When an application neglects to validate SSL certificates, it essentially removes one of the primary security mechanisms designed to prevent unauthorized parties from impersonating legitimate services.
The technical flaw manifests as a lack of proper certificate chain validation and trust verification within the application's network communication stack. This weakness allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting fraudulent certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. The certificate validation process should normally verify the certificate's authenticity through trusted certificate authorities, check certificate expiration dates, and ensure proper certificate chain integrity. However, this application bypasses these essential checks, enabling attackers to intercept and manipulate communications between the mobile client and target servers. The vulnerability falls under CWE-295, which specifically addresses "Improper Certificate Validation," and represents a direct violation of secure communication protocol standards. Attackers can exploit this weakness by setting up malicious servers with self-signed certificates or by compromising certificate authorities to generate convincing fraudulent certificates.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables comprehensive surveillance and data theft capabilities for malicious actors. Users of the affected application become vulnerable to various attack vectors including credential theft, financial data compromise, and personal information disclosure. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in mobile environments where applications often handle sensitive personal and financial data, making the attack surface more valuable to threat actors. Mobile applications that rely on SSL/TLS for secure communications become completely vulnerable to this attack, as the application cannot distinguish between legitimate and malicious server certificates. This weakness essentially provides attackers with a backdoor to all communications, potentially compromising user sessions, login credentials, and sensitive transactions conducted through the vulnerable application. The vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041, which describes data compression and encryption methods used by adversaries to exfiltrate data, as the compromised application becomes a vector for data exfiltration.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-6823 require immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application. The primary solution involves implementing robust certificate pinning techniques, where the application explicitly trusts specific certificate fingerprints or public keys rather than relying on generic certificate authority validation. Organizations should also implement certificate validation that checks certificate chains against trusted root certificates, verifies certificate expiration dates, and ensures proper hostname validation. Additionally, developers should consider implementing certificate transparency checks and regular security audits of their SSL/TLS implementations. The vulnerability highlights the importance of following secure coding practices and adhering to mobile security standards such as those outlined in OWASP Mobile Top 10, specifically addressing the improper certificate validation issue. Regular security testing and code reviews should be implemented to identify similar weaknesses in other applications. The application should also be updated to include proper error handling for certificate validation failures, ensuring that connections are terminated when certificate validation fails rather than proceeding with potentially compromised communications. This vulnerability serves as a critical reminder of the importance of proper cryptographic implementation in mobile applications and the potential consequences of neglecting fundamental security mechanisms.