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Diary With LockApplication · Writediary

CVE-2017-15581

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-10-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
In the "Diary with lock" (aka WriteDiary) application 4.72 for Android, neither HTTPS nor other encryption is used for transmitting data, despite the documentation that the product is intended for "a personal journal of ... secrets and feelings," which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information by sniffing the network during LoginActivity or NoteActivity execution.

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 WriteDiary Android app version 4.72 transmits all user data (login credentials and diary entries) without any encryption (HTTPS or TLS) during LoginActivity and NoteActivity execution. Despite being marketed as a secure journal for secrets, the app uses plaintext network communications, allowing attackers on the same network to sniff and capture sensitive user data.

MitigationImplement HTTPS/TLS encryption for all network communications, ensure proper certificate validation, and consider certificate pinning to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.

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
Diary With LockApplication
Affected:= 4.72

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 WriteDiary app version 4.72 is installed
    On the Android device, go to Settings > Apps > Writediary Diary With Lock, or use ADB command: pm list packages -i com.writediary.diarywithlock. Check the version name displayed in the app info screen.
    Affected if The installed version is 4.72 (exact match)
  2. Confirm the vulnerable app components are present
    Decompile the APK and inspect the AndroidManifest.xml for LoginActivity and NoteActivity components, or use aapt dump badging writediary.apk to list activities.
    Affected if Both LoginActivity and NoteActivity are exported and present in the manifest
  3. Verify plaintext HTTP usage in network configuration
    Decompile the APK and inspect the AndroidManifest.xml for android:usesCleartextTraffic=true, or inspect the app's network security config (network_security_config.xml), or use a tool like APKTool to examine the app's configuration files.
    Affected if The app explicitly allows cleartext traffic or lacks a network security config restricting it to HTTPS
  4. Verify the app does not implement TLS/SSL certificate pinning
    Decompile the APK and inspect smali/dex code for CertificatePinning implementations, or use a network proxy (like Burp Suite) to attempt a MITM attack and observe if the app accepts the proxy's certificate.
    Affected if No certificate pinning is found and the app accepts self-signed certificates during a MITM test
  5. Confirm network traffic is transmitted unencrypted
    Install the app on a test device, configure the device to route traffic through a network proxy (such as Burp Suite or Wireshark), and attempt to log in or add a diary entry while capturing the network traffic.
    Affected if Login credentials and diary content are visible in plaintext HTTP traffic rather than encrypted HTTPS traffic

If the WriteDiary app version 4.72 is installed and transmits login credentials or diary entries over plaintext HTTP (without TLS/HTTPS encryption), the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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 HTTPS/TLS encryption for all network communications, ensure proper certificate validation, and consider certificate pinning to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.

Fix this in Diary With Lock Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2017-15581 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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