CVE-2014-6885 in Academy Sports
Summary
by MITRE
The Academy Sports + Outdoors Visa (aka com.usbank.icsmobile.academysports) application 1.18 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 • 09/21/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-6885 affects the Academy Sports + Outdoors Visa mobile application version 1.18 for Android devices, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communication protocols. This weakness resides in 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 directly impacts the application's ability to establish trust with remote servers, fundamentally undermining the security assurances that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide.
The technical implementation flaw stems from the application's inadequate certificate validation process, where it fails to perform proper certificate chain verification and trust validation against established certificate authorities. This allows attackers to present fraudulent certificates that appear legitimate to the application, enabling them to intercept and manipulate communications between the mobile device and backend servers. The vulnerability operates at the transport layer security validation level, where the application should be enforcing certificate pinning or at minimum performing standard certificate chain validation against trusted root certificates. Without this verification, the application becomes susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks that can capture sensitive user information including login credentials, personal data, and financial transactions conducted through the application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it provides attackers with the capability to manipulate application behavior and potentially gain unauthorized access to user accounts. Mobile applications that handle sensitive personal and financial information are particularly vulnerable to this type of attack, as users trust the application to maintain secure communications with backend services. The vulnerability affects the application's confidentiality and integrity properties, allowing attackers to both read and modify data in transit. This represents a fundamental failure in the application's security architecture and violates core principles of secure coding practices as outlined in industry standards such as the OWASP Mobile Security Project and NIST guidelines for mobile application security.
The attack vector for this vulnerability aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK framework's network infiltration techniques, specifically targeting the credential access and defense evasion categories. Attackers can leverage this weakness through various methods including proxy server manipulation, DNS poisoning, or certificate authority compromise to present forged certificates that the application accepts without proper verification. The vulnerability's persistence and ease of exploitation make it particularly dangerous in environments where users conduct sensitive transactions or access confidential information through mobile applications. Organizations implementing similar security controls should consider this vulnerability as a critical indicator of broader security gaps in their mobile application security posture.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application, including certificate pinning, certificate chain validation against trusted authorities, and regular security assessments of the application's cryptographic implementation. The application should be updated to enforce strict certificate validation procedures that align with industry best practices and security standards. Additionally, organizations should implement network monitoring to detect potential certificate-based attacks and establish incident response procedures for handling security breaches related to this type of vulnerability. The fix should incorporate proper error handling for certificate validation failures and ensure that the application terminates connections when certificate validation fails, preventing the acceptance of untrusted certificates.