CVE-2017-5901 in State Bank Anywhere
Summary
by MITRE
The State Bank of India State Bank Anywhere app 5.1.0 for iOS 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 • 09/24/2020
The State Bank of India State Bank Anywhere mobile application version 5.1.0 for iOS presents a critical security vulnerability that fundamentally undermines the integrity of its secure communications channel. This flaw represents a complete failure in the application's certificate validation mechanism, specifically within its implementation of SSL/TLS security protocols. The vulnerability manifests as an absence of proper X.509 certificate verification during the SSL handshake process, creating an exploitable condition that allows malicious actors to establish fraudulent secure connections with the application.
This technical weakness directly violates established security protocols and standards, as the application fails to perform the essential certificate chain validation that should occur when establishing secure connections to backend servers. The vulnerability falls under the category of certificate verification failure, which is classified as CWE-295 within the Common Weakness Enumeration framework. The absence of certificate pinning and proper validation means that the application accepts any certificate presented by a server, regardless of its authenticity or trustworthiness. Attackers can exploit this by deploying malicious certificates that appear legitimate to the application, thereby bypassing the security measures designed to protect sensitive financial data transmission.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, particularly within the financial services sector where data integrity and confidentiality are paramount. Attackers can execute man-in-the-middle attacks by intercepting communications between the mobile application and the bank's servers, potentially gaining access to sensitive customer information including account details, transaction histories, and personal identification data. The vulnerability affects all users of the specific iOS version and creates a persistent threat vector that remains active as long as the application is installed and in use. The compromised security posture extends beyond simple data interception to include potential session hijacking and credential theft scenarios.
From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability aligns with techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1046 category of Network Service Scanning and T1566 for Phishing. The attack vector requires minimal sophistication to exploit, making it particularly dangerous as it can be leveraged by both skilled and less experienced threat actors. The vulnerability's impact is amplified by the nature of the target - a banking application handling highly sensitive financial data where even partial exposure could result in significant financial losses and regulatory compliance violations. Organizations implementing such applications must recognize that the vulnerability creates an inherent trust boundary failure that undermines the entire security architecture of the mobile banking ecosystem.
The recommended mitigation strategies include immediate implementation of proper certificate validation mechanisms, including certificate pinning to specific trusted authorities and implementation of certificate transparency checks. Application developers should also implement robust certificate chain validation procedures that verify certificate signatures, expiration dates, and issuer authenticity. Organizations should consider deploying additional network monitoring solutions to detect anomalous certificate behavior and establish incident response procedures specifically tailored to address such certificate-based attacks. The vulnerability highlights the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices and demonstrates the necessity of comprehensive security testing including penetration testing and code review processes to identify similar flaws in mobile application security implementations.