CVE-2014-7720 in Better Homes
Summary
by MITRE
The Better Homes and Gardens Aus (aka com.pacificmagazines.betterhomesandgardens) application @7F0801B2 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 • 10/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-7720 affects the Better Homes and Gardens Android application, specifically manifesting at the address 7F0801B2 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 adversaries can exploit to compromise the integrity of communications between the mobile application and its backend services.
This vulnerability directly relates to CWE-295, which addresses improper certificate validation in secure communication implementations. The application's failure to perform proper X.509 certificate validation means that it accepts any certificate presented by a server without verifying its authenticity, trust chain, or validity period. Attackers can leverage this weakness by presenting a maliciously crafted certificate that appears to be from a legitimate server, thereby enabling them to establish fraudulent communication channels with the application. The flaw essentially eliminates the cryptographic protection mechanisms that SSL/TLS protocols are designed to provide.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates a severe risk for users of the Better Homes and Gardens application, as it allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept and potentially modify communications between the mobile device and the application's servers. An attacker positioned between the user's device and the server can present a forged certificate that appears legitimate to the application, enabling them to capture sensitive user data, credentials, or other confidential information transmitted through the application. The implications extend beyond simple data interception to include potential account compromise, identity theft, and unauthorized access to personalized content or user preferences stored within the application's backend systems.
The attack vector for this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1041, which describes the use of man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept network traffic. Additionally, this flaw contributes to the broader category of credential harvesting attacks where attackers seek to obtain user authentication information through compromised communication channels. The vulnerability's impact is particularly concerning given that mobile applications often handle sensitive personal information including user profiles, preferences, and potentially financial data related to magazine subscriptions or in-app purchases. Organizations should consider implementing certificate pinning mechanisms as a mitigation strategy to prevent this specific class of vulnerability from being exploited.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms within the application, ensuring that all SSL/TLS connections verify certificate chains against trusted root authorities. Developers should implement certificate pinning to prevent the application from accepting any certificate other than those explicitly trusted for the specific service. The application should also validate certificate expiration dates, check certificate revocation status through OCSP or CRL mechanisms, and implement proper error handling for certificate validation failures. Security patches should be deployed immediately to address this vulnerability, and the application should undergo comprehensive security testing to ensure that similar certificate validation flaws do not exist in other components of the software stack.