CVE-2017-5593 in Psi+
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 Psi+ (0.16.563.580 - 0.16.571.627).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/26/2024
The vulnerability described in CVE-2017-5593 represents a critical implementation flaw in the XMPP protocol's Message Carbons extension as implemented in Psi+ client versions ranging from 0.16.563.580 through 0.16.571.627. This issue stems from a fundamental misconfiguration in how the client processes incoming message carbon copies, creating a security gap that directly violates the principle of authentication and message integrity. The vulnerability specifically affects the XEP-0280 standard which is designed to enable message synchronization across multiple devices for XMPP users, but the flawed implementation allows unauthorized manipulation of message source identification.
The technical flaw manifests when the vulnerable XMPP client receives message carbon copies that contain forged sender information. Under normal circumstances, message carbons should preserve the original sender's identity and authentication details, but the implementation error in Psi+ allows attackers to manipulate the from attribute of carbon messages, effectively enabling them to masquerade as any user within the victim's contact list. This misimplementation creates a trust boundary violation where the client incorrectly validates the authenticity of message sources, allowing attackers to inject malicious content that appears to originate from legitimate contacts. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited through network-based attacks without requiring additional authentication credentials from the target user.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple impersonation to enable sophisticated social engineering campaigns that leverage the trust relationship between users and their contacts. Attackers can craft convincing phishing attempts, misinformation campaigns, or credential harvesting attacks by making messages appear to come from trusted sources within the victim's communication network. This creates a significant risk for enterprise environments where XMPP-based communication systems are used for business-critical messaging, as the vulnerability can be exploited to compromise user trust and potentially lead to more serious security incidents. The attack vector requires only network access to the vulnerable client and can be executed without complex exploitation techniques, making it particularly dangerous.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate client updates to patched versions that properly implement the XEP-0280 standard according to established security guidelines. Organizations should implement network monitoring to detect anomalous message patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, and establish user awareness training to help identify suspicious communications. From a security architecture perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues and demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and authentication checking in protocol implementations. The flaw also relates to ATT&CK technique T1566 Phishing and T1078 Valid Accounts as it enables attackers to leverage legitimate user identities to conduct malicious activities. System administrators should consider implementing additional message validation mechanisms at network boundaries and ensure that all XMPP client implementations undergo rigorous security review processes before deployment to prevent similar issues in other communication platforms.