Kingdom: Security Features

Software security is not security software. Here we're concerned with topics like authentication, access control, confidentiality, cryptography, and privilege management.

Privacy Violation: Sensitive Data Accessible From iTunes

Objective-C
Swift

Abstract

The identified method writes sensitive data to the public Documents directory without properly masking it first.

Explanation

The Documents directory is intended to store non-transient application data, such as user-created content or local information allowing the app to run in offline mode. If UIFileSharingEnabled is set in your application's Info.plist file, files here will be accessible via iTunes. When writing sensitive data to the Documents directory, the data may be exposed in unencrypted backups or through the iTunes interface.

Example 1: The following snippet of code writes the user password in clear text within the Documents directory:


    ...
    NSString *docsDirectory = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
    NSString *passwd_path = [docsDirectory stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"passwords.txt"];

    NSString *password = [user password];
    [password writeToFile:passwd_path atomically:YES encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding error:nil];
    ...

References

[1] David Thiel iOS Application Security: The Definitive Guide for Hackers and Developers No Starch Press

[2] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration CWE ID 359

[3] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration Top 25 2019 [4] CWE ID 200

[4] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration Top 25 2020 [7] CWE ID 200

[5] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration Top 25 2021 [20] CWE ID 200

[6] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration Top 25 2024 [17] CWE ID 200

[7] Standards Mapping - DISA Control Correlation Identifier Version 2 CCI-002475

[8] Standards Mapping - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Privacy Violation

[9] Standards Mapping - NIST Special Publication 800-53 Revision 4 AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement (P1), SC-28 Protection of Information at Rest (P1)

[10] Standards Mapping - NIST Special Publication 800-53 Revision 5 AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement, SC-28 Protection of Information at Rest

[11] Standards Mapping - OWASP Application Security Verification Standard 4.0 8.2.2 Client-side Data Protection (L1 L2 L3), 8.3.4 Sensitive Private Data (L1 L2 L3), 10.2.1 Malicious Code Search (L2 L3)

[12] Standards Mapping - OWASP Mobile 2014 M2 Insecure Data Storage

[13] Standards Mapping - OWASP Mobile 2024 M6 Inadequate Privacy Controls

[14] Standards Mapping - OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard 2.0 MASVS-STORAGE-1

[15] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2004 A8 Insecure Storage

[16] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2007 A6 Information Leakage and Improper Error Handling

[17] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2013 A6 Sensitive Data Exposure

[18] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2017 A3 Sensitive Data Exposure

[19] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2021 A02 Cryptographic Failures

[20] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.1 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 8.4

[21] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.2 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 6.5.6, Requirement 8.4

[22] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 2.0 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 6.5.5, Requirement 8.4

[23] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.0 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 6.5.5, Requirement 8.2.1

[24] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.1 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 6.5.5, Requirement 8.2.1

[25] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.2 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 6.5.5, Requirement 8.2.1

[26] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 3.2.1 Requirement 3.2, Requirement 3.4, Requirement 4.2, Requirement 6.5.5, Requirement 8.2.1

[27] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 4.0 Requirement 3.3.1, Requirement 3.5.1, Requirement 4.2.2, Requirement 6.2.4, Requirement 8.3.1

[28] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 4.0.1 Requirement 3.3.1, Requirement 3.3.2, Requirement 3.3.3, Requirement 3.5.1, Requirement 4.2.2, Requirement 6.2.4, Requirement 8.3.1

[29] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Software Security Framework 1.0 Control Objective 3.3 - Sensitive Data Retention, Control Objective 3.6 - Sensitive Data Retention, Control Objective 6.1 - Sensitive Data Protection, Control Objective 7 - Use of Cryptography

[30] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Software Security Framework 1.1 Control Objective 3.3 - Sensitive Data Retention, Control Objective 3.6 - Sensitive Data Retention, Control Objective 6.1 - Sensitive Data Protection, Control Objective 7 - Use of Cryptography

[31] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Software Security Framework 1.2 Control Objective 3.3 - Sensitive Data Retention, Control Objective 3.6 - Sensitive Data Retention, Control Objective 6.1 - Sensitive Data Protection, Control Objective 7 - Use of Cryptography

[32] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.1 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3310 CAT I, APP3340 CAT I

[33] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.4 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3340 CAT I

[34] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.5 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3340 CAT I

[35] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.6 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3340 CAT I

[36] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.7 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3340 CAT I

[37] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.9 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3340 CAT I

[38] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3.10 APP3210.1 CAT II, APP3340 CAT I

[39] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.2 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[40] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.3 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[41] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.4 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[42] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.5 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[43] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.6 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[44] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.7 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[45] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.8 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[46] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.9 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[47] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.10 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[48] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.11 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[49] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 4.1 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[50] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 5.1 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[51] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 5.2 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[52] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 5.3 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[53] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 6.1 APSC-DV-002340 CAT II

[54] Standards Mapping - Web Application Security Consortium Version 2.00 Information Leakage (WASC-13)

[55] Standards Mapping - Web Application Security Consortium 24 + 2 Information Leakage

desc.dataflow.objc.privacy_violation_sensitive_data_accessible_from_itunes

Abstract

The identified method writes sensitive data to the public Documents directory without properly masking it first.

Explanation


    let documents = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(.DocumentDirectory, .UserDomainMask, true)[0] as String
    let passwd_path = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: documents).URLByAppendingPathComponent("secret.txt")
    let password = getUserPassword()
    try password.writeToURL(passwd_path, atomically:true, encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding)