CVE-2017-2387 in Music
Summary
by MITRE
The Apple Music (aka com.apple.android.music) application before 2.0 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 • 09/28/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-2387 affects the Apple Music application for Android devices prior to version 2.0, representing a critical security flaw in the application's secure communication protocols. 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 user data and system integrity. The vulnerability directly impacts the application's ability to establish trust with legitimate servers, fundamentally undermining the security model that protects sensitive user information during transmission.
The technical flaw manifests as a missing certificate verification mechanism within the application's SSL implementation, which falls under the CWE-295 weakness category related to improper certificate validation. This weakness allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting forged certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. The certificate validation process typically involves checking certificate chains, verifying digital signatures, and ensuring certificates are issued by trusted certificate authorities, but the Apple Music application fails to perform these critical checks. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1046 which describes the use of man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept and manipulate network traffic, and T1566 which covers social engineering techniques involving certificate manipulation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data interception, as it enables attackers to not only read sensitive information transmitted between the user's device and Apple's servers but also to modify data in transit. This could potentially allow attackers to manipulate music playback data, user preferences, subscription information, and other personal details that flow through the application's secure channels. The vulnerability affects users who rely on the Apple Music application for their music streaming services, potentially exposing them to identity theft, financial fraud, and privacy violations. Attackers could exploit this weakness to impersonate Apple's legitimate servers and redirect users to malicious endpoints that harvest login credentials or other sensitive user data.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve immediate application updates to version 2.0 or later, which would implement proper certificate validation mechanisms. System administrators and security professionals should also consider network-level protections such as certificate pinning to prevent the use of unauthorized certificates, though this approach has its own limitations and complexity considerations. Organizations should implement network monitoring to detect unusual certificate behavior and establish proper incident response procedures for potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of following security best practices for mobile application development, particularly regarding secure communication protocols and certificate management, as outlined in industry standards such as the OWASP Mobile Security Project guidelines for mobile application security. Users should be educated about the risks of using outdated applications and the importance of keeping software updated to protect against known vulnerabilities.