CVE-2014-7427 in Hunting Trophy Whitetails
Summary
by MITRE
The Hunting Trophy Whitetails (aka com.wHuntingTrophyWhitetails) application 0.75.13441.88885 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 • 10/06/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7427 affects the Hunting Trophy Whitetails Android application version 0.75.13441.88885, representing a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communications. 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 the integrity of network communications. The vulnerability specifically impacts the application's ability to establish trust with remote servers, fundamentally undermining the security guarantees that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide.
The technical flaw manifests in the application's cryptographic implementation where it accepts any certificate presented by a server without performing the necessary verification steps required by standard SSL/TLS protocols. This includes failing to validate certificate signatures, check certificate expiration dates, verify certificate authorities, or ensure proper domain name matching. According to CWE-295, this represents a weakness in certificate validation that directly enables man-in-the-middle attacks. The application essentially operates in a trust model that accepts all certificates indiscriminately, creating an environment where malicious actors can intercept communications by presenting forged certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it allows attackers to establish unauthorized communication channels with the application's servers. An attacker positioned in the network path between the mobile device and the server can present a malicious certificate that the application will accept without question, enabling them to decrypt and modify communications between the application and its backend services. This opens the door to various attack vectors including credential theft, data exfiltration, and session hijacking. The vulnerability particularly affects sensitive information exchanges such as user authentication credentials, personal data, and potentially financial transactions if the application handles such information. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving credential access and defense evasion, as attackers can maintain persistent access while avoiding detection through the use of forged certificates.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address the core cryptographic implementation flaw through comprehensive certificate validation mechanisms. The application developers should implement proper certificate pinning techniques that validate certificate chains against trusted certificate authorities and maintain a whitelist of acceptable certificates or public keys. Network administrators should consider implementing additional monitoring and detection measures to identify suspicious certificate usage patterns. The fix requires updating the application to perform complete certificate verification including signature validation, expiration checking, and proper hostname verification as mandated by industry standards for secure communication implementations. Organizations should also consider implementing network-level security controls such as SSL inspection and certificate monitoring to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. This vulnerability highlights the critical importance of proper cryptographic implementation in mobile applications and the necessity of following established security frameworks to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks that can compromise user data and system integrity.