New Android Browser Vulnerability Is a “Privacy Disaster” for 70% Of Android Users
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A
Serious vulnerability has been discovered in the Web browser installed
by default on a large number (Approximately 70%) of Android devices,
that could allow an attacker to hijack users' open websites, and there
is now a Metasploit module available to easily exploit this dangerous
flaw.
The exploit targets vulnerability (CVE-2014-6041) in
Android versions 4.2.1 and all older versions and was first disclosed
right at the start of September by an independent security researcher
Rafay Baloch, but there has not been much public discussion on it.
The
Android bug has been called a "privacy disaster" by Tod Beardsley, a
developer for the Metasploit security toolkit, and in order to explain
you why, he has promised to post a video that is "sufficiently
shocking."
“By malforming a javascript: URL handler with a
prepended null byte, the AOSP, or Android Open Source Platform (AOSP)
Browser) fails to enforce the Same-Origin Policy (SOP) browser security
control,” Tod Beardsley of Rapid7 said in a blog post.
"What
this means is any arbitrary website - say, one controlled by a spammer
or a spy - can peek into the contents of any other web page," Beardsley
said. "[If] you went to an attackers site while you had your webmail
open in another window, the attacker could scrape your email data and
see what your browser sees.”
"Worse, he could snag a copy of
your session cookie and hijack your session completely, and read and
write webmail on your behalf."
Baloch also found the AOSP browser
installed on Android 4.2.1 is vulnerable to Same Origin Policy (SOP)
bypass that allows one website to steal data from another. He then
tested his findings on numerous devices, including Qmobile Noir, Sony
Xperia, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC Wildfire and Motorola Razr and found that
it works on all.
But, anyone running the latest release, Android
4.4, is not affected, which means that as many as 75 per cent of
Android devices and millions of Android users are vulnerable to the
attack, according to Google’s own statistics.
Baloch explained
that an SOP bypass occurs when one website makes it way to access the
properties, such as cookies, location, response etc, of the other site.
“Due to the nature of the issue and potential impact, browsers have very
strict model pertaining it and a SOP bypass is rarely found in modern
browsers. However, they are found once in a while,” Baloch said in a
blog post.
As a responsible security researcher, Baloch reported
the issue to the Google and they responded positively by assuring him
that they are working on a “suitable fix.” But when it came to reward
this bug hunter, they replied “We are unable to reproduce this issue
though. Its possible that your OEM has modified the browser in a manner
that has created this issue,” said Josh Armour of Android Security team.
“Android does not currently have a Vulnerability Rewards Program. As
far as publicly crediting for the vulnerability we have started to
maintain a list of acknowledgements here. Given that this was published
before we had a chance to provide patches, this specific report would
not qualify.”
The problem is that all the versions except Android
4.4 are affected by this issue and a large number of users still are on
the older versions. Worst is the creation of a module for the
Metasploit penetration testing platform, which would make the
exploitation of the vulnerability much easier.
It all resides in
the BROWSER of the Android devices, which can't be uninstalled because
it's usually part of the operating system in-build feature. So, in order
to protect yourself, just Disable the BROWSER from your Android devices
by going to Settings > Apps > All and looking for its icon. By
opening it, you’ll find a DISABLE button, Select it and disable the
Browser.