A recent media report talking about a serious vulnerability occurring in the Android software, which makes 95 percent of smartphones running under this system is susceptible to attack. This is a serious problem, but to the whole matter should be approached with caution. G Data provides some guidelines to help you alleviate the situation somewhat, although overall solution to the problem rests on the shoulders of equipment manufacturers.
What is the problem?
The main culprit of all this confusion is a hole located in the library stagefright, responsible for media processing. Stagefright engine is used to record and playback audio and video files. The attackers, using a properly crafted file that can run malicious code on the device. The entire process runs in the background without user’s knowledge and commitment terminal.
Why the gap is so dangerous?
In the system there is at least one possibility of attack by which the user of the device is virtually helpless. Crafted file is sent via MMS, this is because most of the phones body is processed prior to informing the user of its receipt. Then the hackers have the door open and they can both infect the device and acquire root privileges.
Critical vulnerability of Android
Interestingly, a hacker can remove the MMS, immediately after the successful action, thus offering not see any interference. Incidentally issues related to attacks carried out via MMS are the subject of many discussions, a lot of interesting information about the Stagefrigha appeared during this year’s BlackHat conference.
Why, you are almost defenseless? What to do?
The elimination of vulnerabilities in the operating system source code is a task for manufacturers. They must correct the problem and provide updates for different operating system versions that are on users’ devices. However, it is worth noting that patching holes in the operating system Android, not entirely solve the problem. Many vendors of mobile devices used various types of overlays, custom, modified versions of the software.
However, there are two ways to better protect themselves from attacks initiated via MMS.
ADVICE – how to protect themselves from the vulnerability stagefright?
- prevent automatic loading MMS content in the device settings
- If possible, phone users should block messages from unknown persons
Who is most at risk?
Vulnerable to attack all versions of Android from version 2.2 upwards, which means that the problem currently about 95% of smartphones running under a green humanoids. The most vulnerable to infection are software versions that preceded version of Jelly Bean (about 11% of all devices). However, in practice it does not matter, the authors of the report acknowledge that the risk of smartphone users can not feel safe. CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute publishes on the website for a list of affected devices.
Since when do we know about the vulnerability?
The first official message about detecting vulnerabilities in stagefright appeared July 27, 2015 year. Although a user nicknamed Droopyar, known in the environment developers of Google, spoke about its existence in March.
What next?
According to researchers engine stagefright it is not the only component susceptible to a new type of attacks. Their innovation lies in the fact that smartphones and tablet computers are infected automatically, without the user’s knowledge and action. Previously, terminal owners have to perform a task. But it is history. New types of attacks do not require any interaction from the user. Soon you can expect offensive cyber criminals, using this dangerous mechanism. This means that issues related to protection of mobile devices are becoming much more important than before.
Is it possible to draw positive conclusions from this incident?
Google ensures that the terminals Nexus will receive a monthly security update. In addition, in the future Nexus devices will gain major updates for 24 months, and security updates for 36 months (starting date determines the debut model on the market). However, in the case when the model will be withdrawn from the official sales, the buyer will receive 18 months’ support, counted from the last day of the sale.
950 million Android smartphones vulnerable to attack by MMS
However, the unclear policy on safety mobile devices belonging to other manufacturers, puts clients in a rather difficult situation. The waiting time for system update or patching holes can be quite long. This state of affairs leads to great disparities in terms of the safety of users of Android, which already predicted in the G DATA Malware Report H1, 2011.
Source: G DATA
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