CVE-2014-7403 in NZHondas.com
Summary
by MITRE
The NZHondas.com (aka com.tapatalk.nzhondascom) application 3.6.14 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 • 10/05/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7403 affects the NZHondas.com mobile application version 3.6.14 for Android devices, 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 and system integrity. The vulnerability specifically targets the certificate verification process, which is fundamental to establishing trust in secure communications between mobile applications and remote servers.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of certificate validation mechanisms within the application's SSL implementation. When the application establishes secure connections to remote servers, it fails to perform the essential step of verifying the server's X.509 certificate against trusted certificate authorities. This omission allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting forged certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. The flaw directly violates established security principles for secure communication and represents a classic example of insufficient certificate validation, which is categorized under CWE-295 in the Common Weakness Enumeration framework. The vulnerability essentially disables the entire certificate pinning and trust verification mechanism that should protect against fraudulent server identification.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables sophisticated attack scenarios that can compromise user privacy and system security. Attackers can exploit this weakness to decrypt and modify communications between the mobile application and backend servers, potentially gaining access to sensitive user information including personal data, login credentials, and transaction details. The vulnerability affects all users of the specific application version and creates a persistent threat vector that remains active until the underlying implementation is corrected. This type of vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1573.002 for secure channel protocols and represents a significant risk to mobile application security, particularly in environments where sensitive data is transmitted over potentially untrusted networks.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application. Developers must ensure that all SSL/TLS connections perform rigorous verification of server certificates against trusted certificate authorities, implementing proper certificate pinning where appropriate to prevent certificate substitution attacks. The fix should include implementing certificate chain validation, checking certificate expiration dates, and verifying certificate signatures against trusted root certificates. Organizations should also consider implementing network monitoring to detect unusual communication patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security audits and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar certificate validation issues in other applications, while adherence to mobile security best practices and compliance with standards such as NIST SP 800-52 for certificate management should be maintained to prevent future occurrences of similar vulnerabilities.