CVE-2020-5572 in Mailwise
Summary
by MITRE
Android App 'Mailwise for Android' 1.0.0 to 1.0.1 allows an attacker to obtain credential information registered in the product via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/30/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-5572 affects the Android application Mailwise for Android version 1.0.0 through 1.0.1, representing a critical security flaw that enables unauthorized access to user credentials. This issue falls under the category of credential exposure vulnerabilities and demonstrates a significant weakness in the application's security architecture. The unspecified vectors through which attackers can obtain credential information suggest that the vulnerability may involve multiple attack surfaces including insecure data storage, improper authentication mechanisms, or insecure communication channels. Such vulnerabilities typically arise from inadequate security controls during application development and deployment phases, leaving user data exposed to malicious actors who can exploit these weaknesses to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability likely involves improper handling of authentication tokens, session management flaws, or insecure storage of credentials within the application's local storage mechanisms. Attackers could potentially leverage this weakness to extract stored credentials through various methods including direct database access, memory inspection, or by exploiting insecure APIs that expose authentication data. The vulnerability represents a failure in the application's security design principles, particularly in maintaining confidentiality and integrity of user credentials throughout the application lifecycle. This flaw may also indicate poor adherence to security best practices such as proper encryption of sensitive data, secure credential management, and implementation of robust authentication mechanisms that should be standard requirements for any application handling user credentials.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-5572 extends beyond simple credential theft to potentially enable broader security compromises within affected systems. Users who store their credentials within the vulnerable Mailwise application may face identity theft, unauthorized access to their email accounts, and potential cascading security issues if these credentials are reused across multiple platforms. This vulnerability directly impacts user trust and the application's security posture, potentially leading to regulatory compliance violations and legal consequences for the application developers. The attack surface for this vulnerability may include both local and remote exploitation vectors, making it particularly dangerous as it could be leveraged by attackers with varying levels of access to the target system. Organizations relying on this application for email management may experience significant security incidents including unauthorized data access, email account takeovers, and potential breach notifications under privacy regulations such as gdpr or ccpa.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate application updates to address the credential exposure issue, implementation of proper encryption mechanisms for stored credentials, and enhanced authentication protocols. Security measures should focus on preventing unauthorized access to application data through secure coding practices, proper input validation, and implementation of robust access controls. The fix should address the root cause by ensuring that credentials are properly encrypted at rest and in transit, with appropriate key management practices. Organizations should also implement monitoring and detection capabilities to identify potential exploitation attempts and establish incident response procedures for credential compromise scenarios. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-312 (Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information) and CWE-522 (Insufficiently Protected Credentials) categories, and represents a potential pathway for attackers to progress through the kill chain as outlined in the ATT&CK framework under credential access and persistence techniques. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in the application's architecture and prevent future incidents of this nature.