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Xda DevelopersApplication

CVE-2014-5681

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-09-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The XDA-Developers (aka com.quoord.tapatalkxda.activity) application 3.9.8 for Android does not verify X.509 certificates from SSL servers, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to spoof servers and obtain sensitive information via a crafted certificate.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The XDA-Developers Android app version 3.9.8 fails to validate X.509 certificates from SSL servers, enabling man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept encrypted communications by presenting fraudulent certificates and steal sensitive user data.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version of the application that implements proper SSL/TLS certificate validation, or implement certificate pinning as a defense-in-depth measure.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Xda DevelopersApplication
Affected:= 3.9.8

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Adjacent
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:A/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed app version
    Open the XDA-Developers app, navigate to Settings or About section to view the version number, or use 'adb shell dumpsys package <package_name>' to query the installed version
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 3.9.8
  2. Confirm app makes network connections
    Observe that the XDA-Developers app connects to network resources to fetch forum content, threads, and user data
    Affected if The app is used to browse or interact with XDA forum content over HTTPS
  3. Verify SSL/TLS is used
    Inspect network traffic or check that the app uses HTTPS URLs for its network requests
    Affected if The app communicates over HTTPS without proper certificate validation (the app fails to validate X.509 certificates by design in version 3.9.8)

If the installed XDA-Developers Android app version is exactly 3.9.8, the device is affected because this version does not validate SSL certificates, allowing MITM attacks on encrypted communications.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to a patched version of the application that implements proper SSL/TLS certificate validation, or implement certificate pinning as a defense-in-depth measure.

Fix this in Xda Developers Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-5681 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data