CVE-2017-8940 in Healthy Recipes
Summary
by MITRE
The Zipongo - Healthy Recipes and Grocery Deals app before 6.3 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 • 09/26/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-8940 affects the Zipongo - Healthy Recipes and Grocery Deals mobile application version 6.2 and earlier for iOS devices. This represents a critical security flaw in the application's secure communication implementation that fundamentally undermines the integrity of data transmission between the mobile client and remote servers. The issue stems from the application's failure to properly validate SSL/TLS certificates during the secure connection establishment process, creating a significant attack surface that malicious actors can exploit to compromise user data and system integrity.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete absence of X.509 certificate verification within the application's cryptographic implementation. This deficiency allows attackers to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting fraudulent certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. The certificate validation process typically involves checking certificate signatures, verifying the certificate chain against trusted root authorities, and ensuring proper domain matching, but the Zipongo application bypasses all these critical security checks. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-295, which specifically addresses "Improper Certificate Validation," and represents a fundamental failure in the application's security architecture that violates established cryptographic best practices.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, affecting both user privacy and data integrity across the application's functionality. Attackers can intercept and manipulate sensitive user information including personal details, authentication credentials, and potentially financial data transmitted through the application's secure channels. The vulnerability enables eavesdropping on communications between users and servers, allowing adversaries to obtain confidential information that users expect to be protected through secure transmission protocols. This weakness compromises the application's ability to provide the security assurances that users reasonably expect when engaging with mobile applications that handle sensitive personal and financial information.
From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability aligns with several tactics described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, particularly those related to credential access and defense evasion. Attackers can leverage this flaw to harvest user credentials, personal information, and potentially financial data through the compromised secure communication channels. The vulnerability also provides opportunities for attackers to establish persistent access points and maintain stealthy surveillance of user activities. Organizations should consider implementing comprehensive security controls including network monitoring, certificate pinning mechanisms, and regular security assessments to address such implementation gaps.
The recommended mitigation strategy involves immediate deployment of application updates that properly implement certificate validation procedures and X.509 certificate verification. Mobile application developers should implement robust certificate pinning techniques to prevent the acceptance of fraudulent certificates and ensure that only certificates from trusted certificate authorities are accepted. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network-level security controls including intrusion detection systems and certificate monitoring solutions to detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and code reviews should be conducted to identify similar implementation flaws in other mobile applications and ensure compliance with industry security standards and best practices.