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Advisory

Facebook Messenger (iOS) Certificate Validation Vulnerability

Dell SecureWorks Security Advisory SWRX-2016-001

March 22, 2016

Advisory Information

  • Title: Facebook Messenger (iOS) Certificate Validation Vulnerability
  • Advisory ID: SWRX-2016-001
  • Date published: Tuesday, March 22, 2016
  • CVE: Not assigned
  • CVSS v2 base score: 5.8
  • Date of last update: Tuesday, March 22, 2016
  • Vendors contacted: Facebook, Inc.
  • Release mode: Coordinated
  • Discovered by: Sean Wright, Dell SecureWorks

Summary

The Facebook social networking service includes a mobile application called Messenger that allows users to send private messages to their Facebook contacts. Although the application uses HTTPS to communicate with the backend servers, insufficient validation of the certificates returned by these servers leaves the application open to man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.

Download the PDF: SWRX-2016-001

PGP Signature

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
COUNTER THREAT UNIT RESEARCH TEAM
The Secureworks Counter Threat Unit™ (CTU) is a dedicated threat research team that analyzes threat data across our global customer base and actively monitors the threat landscape.
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