CVE-2014-7666 in American Waterfowler
Summary
by MITRE
The American Waterfowler (aka com.magazinecloner.americanwaterfowler) application @7F0801AA 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 • 10/14/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7666 affects the American Waterfowler Android application, specifically manifesting at the address 7F0801AA within the application's codebase. This represents a critical security flaw in the application's implementation of secure communication protocols, where the software fails to properly validate SSL/TLS certificates presented by remote servers. The absence of certificate verification creates a significant attack surface that malicious actors can exploit to compromise the application's security model and user data integrity.
This vulnerability stems from improper implementation of SSL/TLS certificate validation mechanisms within the Android application's network communication stack. The application's failure to verify X.509 certificates means it accepts any certificate presented by a server without ensuring its authenticity, validity, or proper chain of trust. This flaw directly violates fundamental security principles for secure communications and aligns with CWE-295, which addresses improper certificate validation in security protocols. The vulnerability creates a man-in-the-middle attack vector where attackers can intercept communications between the application and legitimate servers by presenting fraudulent certificates that appear to be from trusted sources.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables attackers to establish false trust relationships with the application. An attacker positioned between the user's device and a legitimate server can present a crafted certificate that appears valid to the application, allowing them to decrypt and modify communications, steal session tokens, or inject malicious content into the application's data flow. This compromises the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of all data transmitted through the application, potentially exposing user credentials, personal information, or other sensitive data that the application handles. The vulnerability affects the application's ability to maintain secure connections, undermining the trust model that users expect from legitimate mobile applications.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate implementation of proper SSL/TLS certificate validation within the application's network layer. Developers must ensure that all SSL/TLS connections verify certificate chains against trusted Certificate Authorities and validate certificate properties such as expiration dates, subject names, and digital signatures. The application should implement certificate pinning where appropriate to prevent substitution of trusted certificates with fraudulent ones. Security measures should include proper error handling for certificate validation failures and implementation of secure communication protocols that adhere to industry standards such as those defined in the NIST SP 800-52 guidelines for secure communication. Additionally, regular security audits and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar certificate validation issues within the application's codebase, ensuring compliance with established security frameworks and preventing similar vulnerabilities from being introduced in future updates.