CVE-2018-18979 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. It has a statically coded initialization vector. Extraction of the initialization vector is necessary for deciphering communications between this application and the backend server. This, in combination with retrieving any user's encrypted data from the Ascensia cloud through another vulnerability, allows an attacker to obtain and modify any patient's medical information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/12/2023
The Ascensia Contour NEXT ONE application for Android presented a critical cryptographic vulnerability that fundamentally compromised the security of patient health data. This vulnerability stemmed from the application's use of a statically coded initialization vector within its encryption implementation, representing a severe deviation from established cryptographic best practices. The initialization vector, which should have been dynamically generated for each encryption operation, remained hardcoded within the application's source code, creating a predictable and exploitable weakness in the encryption scheme.
The technical flaw manifested as a direct violation of cryptographic principles outlined in the National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines for secure encryption implementations. When an application uses a static initialization vector alongside a block cipher mode such as CBC, it creates deterministic encryption patterns that can be exploited through known cryptographic attacks. This vulnerability directly maps to CWE-327, which addresses the use of weak cryptographic algorithms and improper implementation of cryptographic functions. The hardcoded initialization vector eliminated the randomness essential for secure encryption, making the system susceptible to pattern analysis and decryption attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extended far beyond a simple cryptographic weakness, creating a comprehensive attack surface that enabled unauthorized access to sensitive medical information. An attacker who could extract the hardcoded initialization vector, combined with the ability to retrieve encrypted patient data from the Ascensia cloud storage through a separate vulnerability, gained complete access to modify patient medical records. This represents a sophisticated multi-stage attack vector that aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566, specifically targeting credential access and data manipulation through cloud-based storage systems. The attack chain demonstrated how seemingly isolated vulnerabilities could compound to create a complete breach of patient privacy and data integrity.
The implications of this vulnerability were particularly severe given the nature of medical data and the regulatory requirements governing healthcare information security. The combination of predictable encryption parameters and cloud data access created a scenario where attackers could not only read sensitive patient information but also modify it, potentially compromising patient care and safety. This vulnerability highlighted the critical importance of proper cryptographic implementation in healthcare applications, where the consequences of security breaches extend beyond financial loss to potential harm to patients. The attack scenario represented a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and demonstrated how static cryptographic elements could undermine entire security architectures. Organizations implementing similar medical device applications must ensure proper initialization vector generation and maintain comprehensive security testing protocols to prevent such vulnerabilities from compromising patient data integrity and confidentiality.
The remediation of this vulnerability required immediate application updates to implement proper dynamic initialization vector generation and secure key management practices. This case study serves as a critical reminder of the importance of cryptographic hygiene in healthcare applications and the need for comprehensive security testing throughout the software development lifecycle. The vulnerability's exploitation demonstrated the real-world consequences of inadequate cryptographic implementation and underscored the necessity for adherence to established security frameworks and standards in sensitive data handling applications.