CVE-2017-9563 in App
Summary
by MITRE
The First Citizens Community Bank fccb/id809930960 app 3.0.1 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 • 10/18/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-9563 affects the First Citizens Community Bank mobile application version 3.0.1 for iOS devices, representing a critical security flaw in the application's secure communication implementation. This issue stems from the application's failure to properly validate X.509 certificates during SSL/TLS connections, creating a significant gap in the mobile banking security architecture. The flaw allows malicious actors to perform man-in-the-middle attacks by presenting forged certificates that the application accepts without proper verification, thereby compromising the integrity of the communication channel between the mobile client and the bank's servers. This vulnerability directly impacts the fundamental security principles of authentication and data protection that are essential for financial applications handling sensitive customer information.
The technical implementation flaw resides in the application's SSL certificate validation mechanism, which fails to perform proper certificate chain validation and trust verification. According to CWE-295, this represents a weakness in certificate validation where the application does not properly verify the authenticity of SSL certificates presented by servers. The vulnerability creates an attack surface where adversaries can intercept communications and present fraudulent certificates that appear legitimate to the vulnerable application. This weakness specifically aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, which describes social engineering attacks involving the manipulation of communication channels to gain unauthorized access to systems. The application's failure to validate certificate signatures, expiration dates, and certificate authorities means that any attacker with access to a valid certificate authority or the ability to generate convincing forged certificates can establish fraudulent connections with the banking application.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching for both the bank and its customers. Financial data transmitted through the vulnerable application could be intercepted, modified, or exfiltrated by attackers who successfully execute man-in-the-middle attacks. Customer account information, transaction details, login credentials, and other sensitive financial data could be compromised, potentially leading to unauthorized transactions, identity theft, and financial fraud. The vulnerability affects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the banking application's communication channels, undermining the trust that customers place in the mobile banking platform. Given that this is a mobile banking application, the attack surface extends beyond traditional network boundaries, as attackers could potentially exploit this vulnerability through various network conditions and locations where users access their banking services.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2017-9563 must address both immediate remediation and long-term security improvements. The primary fix involves implementing proper SSL certificate validation that includes checking certificate signatures, verifying certificate authorities, confirming certificate expiration dates, and ensuring certificate chain integrity. Organizations should implement certificate pinning mechanisms to prevent the acceptance of unauthorized certificates, as recommended by industry best practices for mobile application security. The application should be updated to include robust certificate validation routines that align with PKI standards and security frameworks such as those outlined in NIST SP 800-57 and ISO/IEC 15408. Additionally, security testing should include comprehensive SSL/TLS validation testing to ensure that certificate verification mechanisms function correctly under various attack scenarios. Regular security audits and penetration testing should be conducted to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities in other mobile applications and network services that may be susceptible to similar man-in-the-middle attacks.