An attacker examines an available client application for the presence of
sensitive information. This information may be stored in configuration
files, embedded within the application itself, or stored in other ways.
Sensitive information may include long-term keys, passwords, credit card or
financial information, and other private material that the client uses in
its interactions with the server. While servers are (hopefully) protected
with professional security administrators, most users may be less skilled at
protecting their clients. As a result, the user client may represent a weak
link that an attacker can exploit. If an attacker can gain access to a
client installation, they may be able to detect and lift sensitive
information that could be used directly (such as financial information), or
allow the attacker to subvert future communication between the client and
the server. In some cases, it may not even be necessary to gain access to
another user's installation - if all instances of the client software are
embedded with the same sensitive information (for example, long term keys
for communication with the server) then the attacker must simply find a way
to gain their own copy of the client in order to perform this attack.
Attack Prerequisites
The client application installation must retain sensitive information
locally. Moreover, it must fail to adequately protect this information
against viewing by an attacker. Encrypting the information would thwart this
type of attack, but only if the key used to encrypt this information was not
itself locally accessible.
Resources Required
Depending on the details of the attack, the attacker may require access to a
targeted user's installation of the client. Alternatively, the attacker may need
to acquire any instance of the client.
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Description
