CVE-2014-7348 in HOT CARS
Summary
by MITRE
The HOT CARS (aka com.magzter.hotcars) application 3.0 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 • 10/03/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7348 affects the HOT CARS Android application version 3.0, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communication protocols. This issue falls under the category of improper certificate validation, where the application fails to properly verify X.509 certificates presented by SSL servers during secure connections. The absence of certificate verification creates a significant attack surface that can be exploited by malicious actors to perform man-in-the-middle attacks against users of the application. This weakness directly violates fundamental security principles of secure communication and represents a failure in the application's cryptographic implementation.
The technical flaw manifests in the application's inability to validate SSL/TLS certificates against trusted certificate authorities, allowing attackers to present fraudulent certificates that the application will accept without proper verification. This vulnerability operates at the transport layer security validation level, specifically targeting the certificate chain validation process that should occur during SSL handshakes. Attackers can exploit this by intercepting network traffic and presenting malicious certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application, thereby enabling them to decrypt and potentially modify sensitive data transmitted between the user's device and the application's servers. The flaw essentially disables the security mechanism designed to establish trust between the client and server, leaving users exposed to data interception and manipulation attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, as it allows attackers to obtain sensitive information through crafted certificates that can be used to impersonate legitimate servers. Users of the HOT CARS application become vulnerable to various attack vectors including data theft, session hijacking, and information disclosure. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality and integrity of data transmitted through the application, potentially exposing user credentials, personal information, and other sensitive data. This weakness can be particularly damaging in applications that handle user accounts, payment information, or personal content, as the attacker can intercept and manipulate all communications without detection. The impact extends beyond individual user data to potentially compromise the entire application ecosystem and user trust in the platform.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address the fundamental flaw in certificate validation within the application. The primary remediation involves implementing proper SSL certificate verification mechanisms that validate certificate chains against trusted certificate authorities and check certificate expiration dates and hostname matching. Security controls should include enabling certificate pinning to prevent the acceptance of fraudulent certificates and implementing certificate trust validation that adheres to industry standards such as those defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring to detect unusual certificate behavior and establish secure communication protocols that align with the OWASP Mobile Security Project recommendations. This vulnerability highlights the importance of following established security frameworks and demonstrates how failing to implement proper certificate validation can lead to complete compromise of secure communication channels.
This vulnerability is classified as CWE-295, which specifically addresses improper certificate validation in secure communication protocols. The attack pattern aligns with techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1046 category for network service scanning and T1566 for credential harvesting through man-in-the-middle attacks. The weakness represents a failure in the application's cryptographic implementation that directly impacts the security posture of mobile applications and demonstrates the critical importance of proper SSL/TLS certificate validation in preventing secure communication breaches. Organizations should implement comprehensive security testing including certificate validation checks as part of their mobile application security assessment processes to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being deployed in production environments.