CWE-925 Detail

CWE-925

Improper Verification of Intent by Broadcast Receiver
Incomplete
2013-07-17
00h00 +00:00
2023-06-29
00h00 +00:00
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Name: Improper Verification of Intent by Broadcast Receiver

The Android application uses a Broadcast Receiver that receives an Intent but does not properly verify that the Intent came from an authorized source.

CWE Description

Certain types of Intents, identified by action string, can only be broadcast by the operating system itself, not by third-party applications. However, when an application registers to receive these implicit system intents, it is also registered to receive any explicit intents. While a malicious application cannot send an implicit system intent, it can send an explicit intent to the target application, which may assume that any received intent is a valid implicit system intent and not an explicit intent from another application. This may lead to unintended behavior.

General Informations

Modes Of Introduction

Architecture and Design

Applicable Platforms

Language

Class: Not Language-Specific (Undetermined)

Technologies

Class: Mobile (Undetermined)

Common Consequences

Scope Impact Likelihood
IntegrityGain Privileges or Assume Identity

Note: Another application can impersonate the operating system and cause the software to perform an unintended action.

Potential Mitigations

Phases : Architecture and Design
Before acting on the Intent, check the Intent Action to make sure it matches the expected System action.

Detection Methods

Automated Static Analysis

Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)
Effectiveness : High

Vulnerability Mapping Notes

Justification : This CWE entry is at the Variant level of abstraction, which is a preferred level of abstraction for mapping to the root causes of vulnerabilities.
Comment : Carefully read both the name and description to ensure that this mapping is an appropriate fit. Do not try to 'force' a mapping to a lower-level Base/Variant simply to comply with this preferred level of abstraction.

Related Attack Patterns

CAPEC-ID Attack Pattern Name
CAPEC-499 Android Intent Intercept
An adversary, through a previously installed malicious application, intercepts messages from a trusted Android-based application in an attempt to achieve a variety of different objectives including denial of service, information disclosure, and data injection. An implicit intent sent from a trusted application can be received by any application that has declared an appropriate intent filter. If the intent is not protected by a permission that the malicious application lacks, then the attacker can gain access to the data contained within the intent. Further, the intent can be either blocked from reaching the intended destination, or modified and potentially forwarded along.

NotesNotes

This entry will be made more comprehensive in later CWE versions.

References

REF-922

Analyzing Inter-Application Communication in Android
Erika Chin, Adrienne Porter Felt, Kate Greenwood, David Wagner.
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~daw/papers/intents-mobisys11.pdf

Submission

Name Organization Date Date release Version
CWE Content Team MITRE 2013-06-24 +00:00 2013-07-17 +00:00 2.5

Modifications

Name Organization Date Comment
CWE Content Team MITRE 2014-02-18 +00:00 updated Alternate_Terms, Demonstrative_Examples, Description, References
CWE Content Team MITRE 2017-11-08 +00:00 updated Demonstrative_Examples
CWE Content Team MITRE 2019-01-03 +00:00 updated Related_Attack_Patterns
CWE Content Team MITRE 2020-02-24 +00:00 updated Applicable_Platforms, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2022-10-13 +00:00 updated Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-04-27 +00:00 updated Detection_Factors, Relationships
CWE Content Team MITRE 2023-06-29 +00:00 updated Mapping_Notes