Mobile App Security: The Hidden Threat of Abandoned Libraries

Mobile apps make extensive use of third-party libraries in an attempt to speed up development and provide functionalities like network communication, data parsing, or UI components. Much as such libraries are useful, their use in older or outdated versions is a very serious mobile app security risk. Hackers would prefer to exploit weaknesses in older libraries for unauthorized access, data manipulation, or privacy invasion. A 2022 Veracode report shows that over 30% of the apps in their sample contain vulnerabilities due to outdated third-party libraries, revealing the highest severity of the issue. This highlights the need for strong cybersecurity solutions to protect mobile apps from such risks.

In this blog, we will explain how hackers target old libraries, show some real-world examples, and provide actionable steps to prevent these vulnerabilities supported with statistics and diagrams.

What Are Outdated Libraries and Why They Pose Mobile App Security Risks?

Outdated libraries are old software dependencies that are no longer supported or contain known vulnerabilities that have not been addressed. They are introduced by developers into mobile applications but never resolved, exposing the app and its users to vulnerabilities. These mobile app security risks can be mitigated by addressing such outdated libraries, which is why regular mobile app maintenance services are essential.

Did you know? Although codebases with one or more open source vulnerabilities remained constant year to year at 84%, substantially more codebases contained high-risk vulnerabilities in 2023. This can be best attributed to economic uncertainty and the resulting downsizing of technology professionals, constraining the amount of options available to remediate vulnerabilities. According to the statistics, the proportion of codebases with high-risk open source vulnerabilities — actively exploited, with publicly available proof-of-concept exploits or remote code execution vulnerabilities — increased from 48% in 2022 to 74% in 2023.

How Hackers Exploit Obsolete Libraries in Mobile App Security

Scanning for known vulnerabilities

Hunters employ tools such as Nmap, Shodan, and vulnerability scanners to detect apps that utilize old libraries. A diagram showing the scanning process, ranging from the detection of apps to mapping of known vulnerabilities with the aid of tools such as Shodan, may give further insight and assist in the visualization of this process. Public databases such as the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) allow one to easily obtain information regarding vulnerabilities in old versions.

Reverse Engineering Mobile Apps: A Major Threat to Mobile App Security

Attackers may decompile APKs using APKTool or JADX and check the app’s dependencies and the version of the outdated libraries. The following flowchart explaining the reverse engineering process—decompilation to dependency analysis—can be utilized to explain how attackers leverage these methods. They can then use the discovered vulnerable version to perform attacks like remote code execution (RCE), privilege escalation, or data theft.

Fact: Over 70% of Android apps analyzed by Checkmarx in 2023 were vulnerable to reverse engineering.

Exploiting Known Vulnerabilities in Old Libraries: The Role of CVEs in Mobile App Security

Attackers use already known vulnerabilities in old libraries to attack apps. For instance, an attack on a JSON parsing library may enable attackers to inject code that evades input validation. 

Chaining Vulnerabilities

Old libraries are often exploited as the initial vector with which the attacker will chain multiple vulnerabilities. For example, a buggy XML parsing library can be exploited by attackers to perform an XXE (XML External Entity) attack, which can in turn be used to retrieve sensitive server files. This could further be escalated into a privilege escalation attack using another old library. A flowchart depicting this sequence—from the initial vulnerability exploitation to chained attacks—would illustrate how these breaches occur. For example, a buggy library can be exploited by an attacker to inject malicious code, which is executed due to another bug in the app.

Real-Life Examples of Abandoned Libraries and Security Breaches in Mobile Apps

1. Struts2 Vulnerability (Equifax Data Breach)

What Happened

The 2017 Equifax breach, the largest breach to date, was caused by an unpatched Apache Struts2 library vulnerability. The vulnerability (CVE-2017-5638) allowed attackers to remotely execute arbitrary code by issuing specially crafted HTTP requests.

Impact:

Over 147 million records of sensitive personal information were leaked.

Lesson Learned:

Keep libraries up-to-date and look for large patches, especially on widely used frameworks.

2. Log4j Vulnerability (Log4Shell)

What Occurred?

The open-source Java logging library Log4j was found to have a critical vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228). This allowed attackers to execute remote code through the injection of a malicious payload into log messages.

Impact:

The bug had hit millions of apps, including mobile apps, and needed en masse emergency patching.

Lesson Learned:

Proactively track the dependencies within your application and respond to notice of critical vulnerabilities at once.

3. Outdated OpenSSL Library in Android Applications

What Occurred?

Researchers found that numerous Android applications had adopted outdated versions of the OpenSSL library, which had dangerous vulnerabilities such as the Heartbleed bug. The vulnerabilities made it possible for attackers to siphon off sensitive information such as passwords and encryption keys.

Impact:

Apps of millions of users were susceptible to data theft and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.

Lesson Learned:

Make sure that cryptographic libraries are kept abreast because they form the core of app security.

Best Practices for Reducing Risks

1. Track and Inventory Dependencies
Maintain a list of all third-party libraries your application uses, including versions. Use tools such as Dependabot, Snyk, or GitHub’s Dependency Graph to scan your dependencies for vulnerabilities in order to reduce mobile app vulnerabilities.

2. Update Libraries Periodically
Periodically look for updates and patches for every library. Automate updates of dependencies through tools such as Renovate or Gradle version catalog. Don’t hard-code library versions within your build options. Instead, use dynamic versioning where you append the greatest available minor and patch versions.

3. Use Vulnerability Scanning Tools
Use security scanners like Trivy, MobSF, or OWASP Dependency-Check in your CI/CD pipeline to catch and remediate vulnerabilities early. These tools help you address mobile app security risks efficiently.

4. Follow Secure Coding Standards
Periodically sweep your codebase for unused or deprecated libraries. Replace outdated libraries with secure and efficient ones to avoid mobile app security vulnerabilities.

5. Enforce the Principle of Least Privilege
Limit library access rights and permissions to reduce the impact that a breach can have.

6. Implement OWASP MASVS Guidelines
Follow the OWASP Mobile Application Security Verification Standard (MASVS) to have end-to-end mobile app security coverage of your app.

Conclusion: 

Employing third-party libraries has the potential to speed up mobile app development a great deal, but using outdated libraries is a security time bomb. Hackers specifically target bugs in old libraries to infect apps, steal information, or execute malicious code. In order to safeguard your apps and users, you need to:

• Update dependencies regularly.
  
• Scan for vulnerabilities using automated tools.
  
• Follow secure coding standards and practices.

In a similar vein, ensuring the overall security of your organization and applications involves proactive measures. By being proactive and focusing on library management, developers can eliminate the risks involved with outdated libraries and create more secure mobile apps.

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