Authorization / Itunes UI File Sharing Enabled

Description

iTunes UI File Sharing Enabled is an Authorization vulnerability that allows a user to access sensitive data stored in an iOS application or mobile app. This vulnerability is classified as CWE-284 and is described in the OWASP Testing Guide as “insufficient authorization or authentication for an operation involving sensitive data”. With this vulnerability, an attacker can exploit the application by bypassing authentication and authorization mechanisms and gain access to sensitive information stored in the app.

Risk

Due to the iTunes UI File Sharing Enabled vulnerability, an attacker can gain access to sensitive user data, such as passwords, credit card information, or other confidential personal data. This can lead to a potential data breach, resulting in financial loss or identity theft. The risk of this vulnerability is considered high, as it can be exploited without requiring any technical knowledge and can be used to gain access to sensitive data.

Solution

The best way to mitigate the risk of the iTunes UI File Sharing Enabled vulnerability is to disable the iTunes UI File Sharing feature. This can be done by setting the UIFileSharingEnabled flag to false in the app’s info.plist file. Additionally, the use of strong authentication and authorization mechanisms should also be implemented to prevent unauthorized access to the application.

Example

The following code example is taken from the CVE-2020-13891 vulnerability, which exploited the iTunes UI File Sharing Enabled vulnerability.

<key>UIFileSharingEnabled</key>
<true/>