CVE-2014-7550 in basketball news
Summary
by MITRE
The basketball news & videos (aka com.basketbal.news.caesar) 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 • 10/10/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7550 affects the basketball news & videos application version 1.0 for Android devices, specifically targeting the application's handling of secure communications through the Transport Layer Security protocol. This flaw represents a critical security weakness that undermines the fundamental principles of secure network communication and exposes users to significant risks during data transmission. The application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates from SSL servers creates an exploitable gap in the security architecture that malicious actors can leverage to compromise user data integrity and confidentiality.
The technical flaw manifests in the application's complete absence of certificate verification mechanisms during SSL/TLS handshakes. When the application establishes secure connections to remote servers, it fails to validate the authenticity of the server certificates presented during the negotiation process. This omission allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting forged certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. The vulnerability directly relates to CWE-295 which defines improper certificate validation as a critical weakness in cryptographic implementations, specifically targeting the failure to properly validate certificate authorities and certificate chains. Without proper certificate verification, the application cannot distinguish between legitimate servers and malicious impostors, effectively nullifying the security protections that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, potentially enabling comprehensive surveillance and data manipulation capabilities for attackers. Security researchers have documented that such flaws can be exploited through various attack vectors including DNS spoofing, ARP poisoning, and direct network interception techniques that align with tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1046 and T1566 categories. The vulnerability creates an environment where attackers can not only eavesdrop on communications but also modify data in transit, inject malicious content, or redirect users to fraudulent websites that appear legitimate to the application. Users of the basketball news application may unknowingly transmit sensitive information including personal credentials, financial data, or other confidential details to compromised servers, while believing they are communicating securely with legitimate service providers.
Organizations and security professionals should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability, including updating the application to include proper certificate validation mechanisms and ensuring all SSL/TLS connections verify certificate chains against trusted root authorities. The recommended approach involves implementing certificate pinning techniques where the application maintains a whitelist of trusted certificates or certificate fingerprints that must match the server's presented certificates. Additionally, network administrators should deploy monitoring solutions to detect anomalous certificate behavior and consider implementing network-level security controls such as SSL inspection capabilities that can identify and block malicious certificate usage. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of adhering to security best practices outlined in industry standards including the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO/IEC 27001, which emphasize the critical need for proper cryptographic implementation and certificate management in mobile applications. Organizations should also conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing to identify similar vulnerabilities in other applications and ensure comprehensive protection against man-in-the-middle attacks across their entire digital ecosystem.