Android application vulnerabilities have become a problem because of Google Play’s open format, and also because users can sideload apps, removing any oversight regarding the safety of apps.
There are also updates and patches to the Android operating system. You can’t count on Android to update itself in a timely manner, because wireless carries control update schedules on all but Google’s Pixel devices.
Expert testing of Android mobile applications shows that in most cases, insecure data storage is the most common security flaw in android apps. According to a report, Vulnerabilities and Threats are slightly more common in Android applications, compared to iOS counterparts(43% vs 38%). But the experts categorize this difference as minimal: the security level of apps is roughly equivalent between the two platforms.
Comprehensive security checks of a mobile application include a search for vulnerabilities in the client and server, as well as data transmission between them.
Insecure interprocess communication(IPC) is a common critical vulnerability allowing an attacker to remotely access data processed in a vulnerable mobile application.
Android provides Intent message objects as a way for application components to communicate with each other. If these messages are broadcasted, any sensitive data in them can be compromised by malware that has registered a BroadcastReceiver instance.
Server-side components vulnerabilities both in application code and in the app protection mechanisms. The latter include flaws in the implementation of two-factor authentication. Let us consider one vulnerability our experts encountered in an application. If two identical requests are sent to the server one right after the other, with a minimal interval between them, One Time Passwords (OTP) are sent to the user’s device both as push notifications and via SMS to the linked Phone Number. The attacker can intercept SMS messages and impersonate the legitimate user, for instance, by cleaning out the user’s bank account.
It is not necessary to send one-time passwords twice in both SMS messages and push notifications. Instead, use the passwords twice in both SMS messages and push notifications. Instead, use the password delivery method selected by the user.
The average server-side component contains five code vulnerabilities and one configuration vulnerability. Configuration flaws include disclosure of sensitive information in error messages, fingerprinting in HTTP headers, and TRACE availability.
Top 7 vulnerabilities
It’s not logical to order the top seven list of vulnerabilities. These are encounter by either severity, impact, or prevalence, as these vulnerabilities found can cause problems for an organization in terms of data loss, sharing private information, or other areas ripe for exploitation by hackers. Here are the Top 7 vulnerabilities, and the solution for how to avoid them:-
Insufficient Jailbreak / Root Detection. Rooting or jailbreaking a device circumvents data protection and encryption schemes on the system. When a device has been compromised, any form of malicious code can run on the device, which can significantly alter the intended behaviors of the application logic. Recovery and data forensic tools generally run on rooted devices as well.
2- Insufficient Transport Layer Protection:-
Applications frequently fail to encrypt network traffic when it is necessary to protect sensitive communications. Encryption must be used for all authenticated connections, especially Internet-accessible web pages. Backend connections should be encrypted as well, or risk exposing an authentication or session token to malicious actors on the same network as the application host. These backend connections may represent a lower likelihood of exploitation than a connection over the external Internet; however, their impact in the case of exploitation can still result in a compromise of user accounts or worse.
Insufficient Authorization results when an application does not perform adequate authorization checks to ensure that the user is performing a function or accessing data in a manner consistent with the security policy.
Authorization procedures should enforce what a user, service, or application is permitted to do. When a user is authenticated to a web site, it does not necessarily mean that the user should have full access to all content and functionality.
4- Cryptography-Improper Certificate Validation:-
This application is either not validating SSL/TLS certificates or is utilizing an SSL/TLS certificate validation system that will not correctly verify that a trusted provider issued the certificate. The client should be configured to drop the connection if the certificate cannot be verified, or is not provided. Any data exchanged over a connection where the certificate has not properly been validated could be exposed to unauthorized access or modification.
5- Brute Force – User Enumeration:-
There are numerous ways for an attacker to determine if a user exists in the system is; a brute force attack is a method to determine an unknown value bypassing an automated process to try a large number of possible values. The attack takes advantage of the fact that the entropy of the value is smaller than perceived.
For example, while an 8-character alphanumeric password can have 2.8 trillion possible values, many people will select their passwords from a much smaller subset consisting of common words and terms.
6-Insufficient Session Expiration:-
After a user signs out of an application, the identifiers that were used during the session are supposed to be invalidated. If the server fails to invalidate the session identifiers, it is possible for other users to use those identifiers to impersonate that user and perform actions on his behalf.
7-Information Leakage- Application Cache:-
Sensitive data can be leaked from application caches, either through the main application code or via third-party frameworks. Mobile devices present a unique challenge with regards to secure data storage. The devices can be easily lost or stolen. Many users do not lock their devices. The cached data can be viewed by an attacker who is performing data forensics on the physical device.