CVE-2018-18977 in Contour NEXT ONE App
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in the Ascensia Contour NEXT ONE application for Android before 2019-01-15. An attacker may reverse engineer the codebase to extract sensitive data that contributes to the disclosure of medical information of patients utilizing the Ascensia platform. This occurs because of weak obfuscation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/12/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-18977 represents a critical security flaw in the Ascensia Contour NEXT ONE mobile application designed for diabetes management. This medical device application processes and stores sensitive patient health information including glucose readings and treatment data, making it a prime target for malicious actors seeking to exploit weaknesses in mobile application security. The vulnerability specifically affects versions of the Android application released prior to January 15, 2019, indicating a window of months where users were exposed to potential data breaches through reverse engineering techniques. The flaw stems from inadequate code obfuscation practices that fail to properly protect the application's internal logic and data structures from analysis by security researchers and malicious actors.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates poor application security design principles where the developers failed to implement adequate code protection mechanisms. Weak obfuscation allows attackers to easily decompile the application and analyze its internal workings, exposing sensitive medical data processing routines and data storage mechanisms. This weakness directly relates to CWE-254, which addresses security weaknesses in code obfuscation and protection mechanisms, and represents a fundamental failure in mobile application security architecture. The vulnerability enables attackers to extract medical information through reverse engineering, potentially compromising patient privacy and violating healthcare data protection regulations such as HIPAA requirements for medical device security.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data disclosure, as it creates opportunities for identity theft, insurance fraud, and targeted attacks against vulnerable patients. Medical information obtained through reverse engineering could be used to construct detailed profiles of patients' health conditions, treatment patterns, and lifestyle factors that may be valuable on the black market. The attack surface is particularly concerning given that this application serves patients with chronic conditions requiring ongoing medical management, making the extracted information highly valuable for various malicious purposes. This vulnerability also demonstrates the broader issue of insufficient security testing in medical device applications, where the primary focus on functionality often overshadows security considerations.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate application updates with proper code obfuscation and anti-reversing techniques to prevent easy decompilation and analysis. Organizations should implement comprehensive mobile application security testing including dynamic and static analysis to identify similar weaknesses in other applications. The remediation process must include proper code hardening measures such as string encryption, control flow obfuscation, and implementation of anti-debugging techniques that align with industry best practices. Additionally, regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that medical device applications maintain adequate protection against reverse engineering and other attack vectors. This vulnerability highlights the importance of applying security-by-design principles to healthcare applications and the necessity of adhering to established frameworks such as those outlined in the ATT&CK framework for mobile application security threats.