CVE-2014-7259 in Kaku San Sei Million Aruthur
Summary
by MITRE
SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd. Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur before 2.25 for Android stores "product credentials" on the SD card, which allows attackers to gain privileges via a crafted application.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/07/2018
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7259 affects SQUARE ENIX Co., Ltd.'s Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur application version 2.25 and earlier for Android platforms. This security flaw represents a critical misconfiguration in how the application handles sensitive authentication credentials, creating an exploitable path for privilege escalation attacks. The vulnerability stems from the application's insecure storage practices where product credentials are persistently saved to the external SD card storage, a location that is inherently accessible to any application with appropriate permissions or malicious actors with physical access to the device.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-312, which specifically addresses the exposure of sensitive information through improper storage of credentials. The application's design flaw involves storing authentication tokens, session identifiers, or other sensitive credential data in plaintext format on the SD card, which is mounted as a removable storage device. This approach directly violates secure coding practices and creates a persistent attack surface that remains accessible even after the application is closed or the device is rebooted. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it allows attackers to gain elevated privileges through a crafted malicious application that can read these stored credentials from the SD card.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability enables attackers to perform privilege escalation attacks by leveraging the stored credentials to impersonate legitimate users or gain access to protected application resources. The attack vector requires minimal sophistication as it only necessitates the ability to read files from the SD card, which is typically accessible to any application with the appropriate storage permissions or physical access to the device. This vulnerability directly impacts the application's integrity and confidentiality, potentially allowing attackers to access premium content, user accounts, or other protected resources within the application ecosystem. The attack surface extends beyond simple credential theft to include potential lateral movement within the application's security boundaries and access to other system resources that may be accessible through the compromised credentials.
The mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve immediate implementation of secure credential storage practices, including the use of Android's secure storage mechanisms such as the Keystore system or encrypted local storage solutions. Developers should avoid storing sensitive information on external storage devices and instead utilize platform-provided secure storage APIs that encrypt data at rest. The recommended approach includes implementing proper access controls, using secure key derivation functions, and ensuring that all credential storage operations occur within the application's private storage space. Additionally, the application should implement proper permission management to minimize the attack surface and utilize Android's security features such as the secure hardware-backed keystore for sensitive data protection. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of following secure coding practices and adheres to ATT&CK technique T1552, which covers the exploitation of credentials stored in insecure locations, making it a prime example of how poor storage practices can lead to significant security compromises in mobile applications.