CVE-2014-7060 in Your Tango
Summary
by MITRE
The Your Tango (aka com.your.tango) 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 • 09/28/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7060 affects the Your Tango Android application version 1.0, representing a critical flaw in the application's secure communication implementation. This issue resides within the application's SSL/TLS certificate validation mechanism, where the software fails to properly verify X.509 certificates presented by SSL servers during secure connections. The absence of certificate verification creates a significant security gap that directly violates fundamental principles of secure communications and authentication. This vulnerability is classified under CWE-295, which specifically addresses "Improper Certificate Validation," a category that encompasses failures in validating the authenticity and trustworthiness of digital certificates used in secure communications. The flaw essentially removes the cryptographic assurance that users should expect when connecting to secure servers, leaving the application susceptible to various forms of malicious interference.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability enables man-in-the-middle attackers to conduct sophisticated attacks against the application's communication channels. Attackers can craft and present fraudulent SSL certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application, allowing them to intercept, modify, or steal sensitive data transmitted between the mobile application and backend servers. This capability extends beyond simple data theft to include potential session hijacking, credential harvesting, and other advanced persistent threats that could compromise user accounts and personal information. The vulnerability's impact is particularly severe because it affects the core security infrastructure of the application's network communications, undermining the entire security model that users rely upon when interacting with the service. The lack of certificate verification creates a trust boundary that can be easily exploited without requiring advanced technical skills or significant resources from the attacker.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability exposes users to substantial risk during application usage, particularly when the application handles sensitive personal information, financial data, or authentication credentials. The attack surface is broad since any communication channel that relies on SSL/TLS encryption becomes vulnerable to interception and manipulation. This includes user authentication flows, data synchronization with servers, payment processing, and any other sensitive transactions that occur within the application's secure communication framework. The vulnerability's presence in a social networking application like Your Tango particularly amplifies the risk, as users may unknowingly transmit personal information, messages, or other data that can be captured and exploited by malicious actors. Organizations using similar applications may face regulatory compliance issues and potential legal consequences due to inadequate security measures that allow such vulnerabilities to persist in production environments.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability requires immediate implementation of proper SSL certificate validation within the application's network communication layer. This includes implementing certificate pinning mechanisms, ensuring that the application validates certificate chains against trusted certificate authorities, and incorporating proper certificate verification routines that check certificate validity periods, subject names, and cryptographic signatures. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as certificate transparency monitoring and regular security audits of their mobile applications. The remediation process must align with industry best practices outlined in standards such as NIST SP 800-52 for certificate management and the OWASP Mobile Security Project recommendations for secure mobile application development. Furthermore, this vulnerability highlights the importance of implementing the principle of least privilege in mobile application security, ensuring that applications only trust certificates that have been properly validated through established trust chains rather than accepting any certificate presented by a server. The fix should also include monitoring and logging of certificate validation failures to detect potential attacks or misconfigurations in real-time.