CVE-2017-5592 in Profanity
Summary
by MITRE
An incorrect implementation of "XEP-0280: Message Carbons" in multiple XMPP clients allows a remote attacker to impersonate any user, including contacts, in the vulnerable application's display. This allows for various kinds of social engineering attacks. This CVE is for profanity (0.4.7 - 0.5.0).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/26/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2017-5592 represents a critical implementation flaw in the XMPP protocol's Message Carbons extension as implemented in profanity version 0.4.7 through 0.5.0. Message Carbons, defined by XEP-0280, are designed to ensure that users receive copies of messages they send to other users, thereby maintaining consistent chat histories across all connected clients. This functionality is essential for modern instant messaging systems where users may have multiple devices simultaneously connected to their accounts. The flaw lies in how profanity processes incoming carbons messages, specifically failing to properly validate the source of these messages before displaying them in the user interface.
The technical implementation error stems from insufficient validation of message origins within the carbons processing logic. When a malicious attacker gains access to a victim's session or network traffic, they can craft specially formatted carbons messages that appear to originate from legitimate contacts within the victim's roster. This misimplementation creates a trust relationship violation where the client accepts and displays messages without proper authentication verification. The vulnerability operates at the application layer of the network stack, specifically within the client-side message processing and rendering components. According to CWE-284, this represents an improper access control vulnerability where the application fails to properly verify the authenticity of incoming messages, allowing unauthorized entities to manipulate the user interface.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond simple message manipulation, creating substantial opportunities for social engineering attacks and user deception. Attackers can exploit this flaw to make it appear as though contacts are sending messages that they never actually sent, potentially leading to phishing attempts, misinformation campaigns, or manipulation of user behavior. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it operates transparently within the normal functioning of the messaging application, making detection difficult for end users. Users may be tricked into believing they are receiving legitimate communications from trusted contacts, potentially leading to credential theft, financial fraud, or other malicious activities. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which encompasses social engineering tactics, and T1071, which covers application layer protocol usage for command and control communications.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both the immediate implementation flaw and broader security practices within XMPP client applications. The primary fix involves implementing proper message origin validation for carbons messages, ensuring that incoming messages are authenticated against the expected contact roster before display. Organizations should immediately upgrade to profanity version 0.5.1 or later, which contains the patched implementation. Additionally, system administrators should implement network monitoring to detect unusual carbons message patterns and consider disabling carbons functionality in environments where this vulnerability could be exploited. The fix should incorporate proper cryptographic verification mechanisms for message authenticity, ensuring that only messages originating from legitimate sources are displayed to users. Security teams should also conduct regular vulnerability assessments of XMPP client implementations and establish monitoring procedures for anomalous message behavior patterns that could indicate exploitation attempts.