Overview
CVE-2025-4378 is a critical vulnerability that affects the mobile application ATA-AOF developed by Ataturk University. The vulnerability, which involves the use of hard-coded credentials and the cleartext transmission of sensitive information, could lead to authentication abuse or bypass. This could potentially compromise the system or lead to data leakage. Given the severity of the vulnerability, it is crucial for users and administrators of the ATA-AOF mobile application to understand its nature and take immediate preventive measures.
The vulnerability affects ATA-AOF Mobile Application versions prior to 20.06.2025. Because of the potential for unauthorized access and data leakage, the vulnerability has been assigned the highest severity score of 10.0.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-4378
Severity: Critical, CVSS Severity Score 10.0
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
ATA-AOF Mobile Application | Before 20.06.2025
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability stems from two primary issues: the use of hard-coded credentials and the transmission of sensitive information in cleartext. The hardcoded credentials in the mobile application’s code can be extracted and used by an attacker to bypass authentication mechanisms. The cleartext transmission of sensitive data, such as user login information, over the network can be intercepted by an attacker with network access. This could potentially lead to unauthorized access to user accounts or sensitive data stored in the application.
Conceptual Example Code
The following pseudocode represents a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:
GET /auth/login HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{
"username": "hardcoded_username",
"password": "hardcoded_password"
}In the above example, the attacker uses the hardcoded credentials to send a GET request to the authentication endpoint. If successful, the attacker would gain unauthorized access to the application.
Mitigation Guidance
The best mitigation strategy is to apply the vendor’s patch for the application. Ataturk University has released a patch for ATA-AOF Mobile Application versions 20.06.2025 and later that addresses this vulnerability. Users should apply this patch as soon as possible to mitigate the risk.
In cases where immediate patching is not possible, users can resort to temporary mitigation by using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to detect and block suspicious network activities. However, this should not be considered a permanent solution as it does not remove the underlying vulnerability. It is strongly recommended to apply the vendor’s patch when possible.