Obama For AmericaApplication · Barackobama

CVE-2014-5948

MEDIUM · 5.4 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-09-18
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 Obama for America (aka com.barackobama.ofa) application 1.02 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 Obama for America Android application version 1.02 fails to verify X.509 certificates from SSL servers during HTTPS connections. This critical flaw allows man-in-the-middle attackers to intercept communications by presenting a crafted certificate, enabling spoofing of legitimate servers and theft of sensitive user data transmitted through the app.

MitigationImplement proper SSL/TLS certificate validation by configuring a correct TrustManager that validates the full certificate chain, or preferably implement certificate pinning to trust only specific certificates or public key hashes for added security.

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
Obama For AmericaApplication
Affected:= 1.02

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. Identify if the Obama for America app is installed
    On the Android device or emulator, go to Settings > Apps > All Apps, and search for 'Obama for America' or 'Barackobama' or 'Barack Obama' to locate the application.
    Affected if The application named 'Barackobama Obama For America' or similar Obama campaign app is present in the installed applications list.
  2. Verify the installed version is 1.02
    In the app's details screen in Settings > Apps > All Apps > [App Name], locate the 'Version' or 'Version info' field and confirm it shows exactly version 1.02.
    Affected if The version number displayed is exactly 1.02.
  3. Confirm HTTPS is used by the app
    Review the application's network traffic or examine the app's code/APK to determine if it makes HTTPS connections to servers.
    Affected if The app transmits sensitive data over HTTPS connections to backend servers.
  4. Inspect SSL certificate validation implementation
    Analyze the app's source code or decompiled APK (for authorized security testing) to examine the SSL/TLS implementation. Look for HttpURLConnection, HttpsURLConnection, or third-party networking libraries and check if they implement custom TrustManager or hostname verification. The vulnerability exists if the app uses a custom TrustManager that accepts all certificates or skips certificate chain validation.
    Affected if The app implements a TrustManager that does not validate the full X.509 certificate chain, or uses a custom certificate verifier that always returns true/accepts all certificates.

The user is affected if they have the Obama for America Android app version 1.02 installed and the app makes HTTPS connections without proper X.509 certificate chain validation.

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

Implement proper SSL/TLS certificate validation by configuring a correct TrustManager that validates the full certificate chain, or preferably implement certificate pinning to trust only specific certificates or public key hashes for added security.

Fix this in Obama For America Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2014-5948 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