First Two Apps Infected With Android Master Key Vulnerability Uncovered By Symantec

Z

ZeroDay

Thread author
Google’s Android may be in the news for all the right reasons at the moment, but just a few days ago, security vendor Bluebox Security announced that it had discovered a way that malicious code could be injected into otherwise entirely legitimate Android applications. Now, it would appear, this issue is more than just a theory after security firm Symantec announced in a blog post that it had discovered two apps that had fallen foul of the exploit, named Master Key exploit.

The two apps currently reside in a Chinese Android app store, and both are apps that are used to find medical appointments in the area. Unfortunately, it would seem that both have fallen victim to the recently discovered ‘Master Key’ security hole that Bluebox told us about not that long ago.

Source

I thought I read somewhere that Google had patched this vulnerability, well judging from this they haven't done a very good job.
 

Ink

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 8, 2011
22,361
NakedSecurity: Android "Master Key" vulnerability - more malware exploits code verification bypass

Researchers at SophosLabs have come across yet more samples of Android malware exploiting the so-called "Master Key" vulnerability.

These samples are different from the ones announced about two weeks ago by our comrades-in-arms over at Symantec.

So, although this vulnerability is not being widely used yet, there does seem to be more than just a passing interest from the cybercrooks in exploiting it.

As we discussed last month, the exploit doesn't actually crack any cryptographic keys, despite its name.
 

JKeith

New Member
Sep 14, 2013
4
This vulnerability has been there for years now and effected way more phones than anyone knows just yet. And it CAN crack cryptographic keys too. Look it up on XDA developers website. This happened to me on my Samsung Galaxy S2. Permissions were changed and apps drawn over apps and data being stolen a few GB a day. It had root access to my phone and changed my serial number, build properties, and the entire file system was corrupted. I could do a factory hard reset using power & volume up and down and still it was corrupted. I had to root my phone, erase internal storage and take out as card after erasing it, and then download the original stock ROM and firmware and flash it to my phone. These hackers today can leave little back doors in places you's never notice. This security risk is huge in my opinion and the more they research the more I think it will reveal itself. People who just text, Facebook, and make a few calls or check out craigslist would never even realize anything was wrong and therefore won't be talking about it. My sister said she never had a problem but when I showed her the bug checker from Blue box it revealed her phone had one of the bugs and needed to be patched.
 

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