With millions of apps available across various platforms, developers are under constant pressure to deliver high-quality apps quickly. This rush can lead to oversights in identifying and addressing potential vulnerabilities, leaving apps susceptible to exploitation by malicious actors. As a result, the integrity and safety of user data, as well as the overall reputation of the app, are put at risk.
The rise in application vulnerabilities is continuously increasing. For instance, in 2021, the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) registered 20,169 new Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). This marks a growth of over 10% compared to the 18,325 vulnerabilities identified the year before in production applications (Checkpoint, 2022). These vulnerabilities leave loopholes and security flaws to be exploited by attackers.
Some recent examples of cyber attacks on mobile apps include the Line app, Japan’s largest messaging app, which faced a data breach due to a vulnerable third party component, affecting users, business partners, and employees. Hackers infiltrated Line’s systems through an affiliate company, NAVER, compromising personal data of 440,000 individuals, including call activity and employee information (Techradar, 2023). Another recent incident is the massive data breach in the Telangana police app where the developer of the application, WinC IT Services, embedded all the passwords of various application programming interfaces (API) directly into the Android app. This means that they used plain text passwords over basic HTTP with no security at any stage. Sources claimed that it is likely that the app developers were not trained in this aspect (The News Minute, 2024).
Common Vulnerabilities in Mobile Apps
Although new exploits and zero-day vulnerabilities emerge regularly, hackers exploit a limited range of them. The OWASP Top Ten List is a renowned reference that identifies significant vulnerabilities found in web and mobile applications. The latest release of the OWASP Top Ten List for mobile apps, released in 2024, outlines the following 10 vulnerabilities:
- Improper Credential Usage: Failure to securely manage user credentials, risking unauthorized access.
- Inadequate Supply Chain Security: Vulnerabilities from insecure third-party software libraries, SDKs and vendors.
- Insecure Authentication/Authorization: Weak authentication methods or improper access controls.
- Insufficient Input/Output Validation: Lack of validation leads to injection attacks.
- Insecure Communication: Transmitting sensitive data over unencrypted channels.
- Inadequate Privacy Controls: Failure to protect user data, leading to privacy violations.
- Insufficient Binary Protections: Lack of protection against reverse engineering or tampering.
- Security Misconfiguration: Insecure deployment settings or configurations.
- Insecure Data Storage: Storing sensitive data improperly, making it vulnerable to theft.
- Insufficient Cryptography: Weak encryption methods or improper key management.
Protecting Apps with Malloc’s Comprehensive Security
Malloc App Security was built to tackle such vulnerabilities and provide real-time monitoring and protection mechanisms directly within the application runtime environment. Additionally, it offers a user-friendly web app dashboard to monitor and manage security incidents.
By analyzing user behavior and network traffic, Malloc can detect anomalies indicative of improper credential usage, insecure authentication, and communication vulnerabilities, triggering alerts for further investigation. Additionally, Malloc monitors changes within the code and libraries to mitigate risks associated with inadequate security of third-party vendors and insufficient binary protections. It also offers protective measures against unauthorized modifications to the binary code and monitors configuration changes to prevent security misconfigurations. Furthermore, Malloc helps ensure proper input/output validation to prevent injection attacks. Overall, Malloc App Security serves as a proactive defense tool, helping app developers to enhance the security of mobile applications.
Developers can find out more about the Malloc Security SDK.
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