CVE-2016-4840 in Plus App
Summary
by MITRE
Coordinate Plus App for Android 1.0.2 and earlier and Coordinate Plus App for iOS 1.0.2 and earlier do not verify SSL certificates.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/19/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-4840 affects mobile applications developed by Coordinate Plus for both android and iOS platforms in versions 1.0.2 and earlier. This issue represents a critical security flaw in the mobile application's network communication security implementation, specifically within the Secure Sockets Layer certificate verification mechanism. The absence of proper SSL certificate validation creates a significant attack surface that can be exploited by malicious actors to compromise user data and communications.
This vulnerability falls under the category of weak cryptographic practices and improper certificate validation, which aligns with CWE-295 - "Improper Certificate Validation" and CWE-310 - "Cryptographic Issues". The technical flaw manifests when the mobile applications fail to validate the SSL/TLS certificates presented by servers during secure communication establishment. This allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting fraudulent certificates that the application accepts without proper verification. The applications essentially trust any certificate presented by the server, regardless of its authenticity, validity, or whether it was issued by a trusted certificate authority.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial and multifaceted. Mobile users who interact with the Coordinate Plus applications become susceptible to various cyber attacks including eavesdropping on sensitive communications, data interception, and potential credential theft. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects both major mobile platforms, suggesting a systemic implementation flaw in the application's security architecture. Attackers can exploit this weakness to capture user session data, personal information, and potentially gain unauthorized access to backend systems that the applications communicate with. The vulnerability directly violates the principles of secure communication as outlined in the NIST SP 800-52 standard for secure socket layer implementation.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate attention and comprehensive remediation efforts. The primary solution involves implementing proper SSL certificate validation mechanisms that verify certificate chains against trusted certificate authorities, check certificate expiration dates, and validate hostnames against certificate subject alternative names. Organizations should implement certificate pinning techniques to further strengthen the security posture, ensuring that only specific certificates or certificate authorities are accepted. The remediation process should include thorough code review and security testing of the network communication components, implementing proper error handling for certificate validation failures, and establishing monitoring mechanisms to detect potential certificate-related attacks. Additionally, this vulnerability highlights the importance of following the ATT&CK framework's T1046 - Network Service Scanning and T1566 - Phishing for Information tactics, as attackers can leverage such weaknesses to establish persistent access to user accounts and sensitive data. The fix must be deployed across all affected versions and validated through comprehensive penetration testing to ensure that the SSL certificate verification mechanisms function correctly in production environments.