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'Stagefright' Flaw: Compromise Android With Just a Text
An anonymous reader writes: Up to 950 million Android phones may be vulnerable to a new exploit involving the Stagefright component of Android, which lets attackers compromise a device through a simple multimedia text — even before the recipient sees it. Researchers from Zimperium zLabs reported the related bugs to Google in April. Google quickly accepted a patch and distributed it to manufacturers, but the researchers say they don't think the manufacturers have yet passed it on to most consumers.
"The weaknesses reside in Stagefright, a media playback tool in Android. They are all "remote code execution" bugs, allowing malicious hackers to infiltrate devices and exfiltrate private data. All attackers would need to send out exploits would be mobile phone numbers, Drake noted. From there, they could send an exploit packaged in a Stagefright multimedia message (MMS), which would let them write code to the device and steal data from sections of the phone that can be reached with Stagefright's permissions. That would allow for recording of audio and video, and snooping on photos stored in SD cards. Bluetooth would also be hackable via Stagefright."
"The weaknesses reside in Stagefright, a media playback tool in Android. They are all "remote code execution" bugs, allowing malicious hackers to infiltrate devices and exfiltrate private data. All attackers would need to send out exploits would be mobile phone numbers, Drake noted. From there, they could send an exploit packaged in a Stagefright multimedia message (MMS), which would let them write code to the device and steal data from sections of the phone that can be reached with Stagefright's permissions. That would allow for recording of audio and video, and snooping on photos stored in SD cards. Bluetooth would also be hackable via Stagefright."
"Android versions prior to Jelly Bean, version 4.1, representing roughly 100 million devices, have “inadequate exploit mitigations” that wouldn’t prevent Stagefright attacks over MMS."
You're welcome.
This group sounds like they acted reasonably and responsibly, letting Google know there was a problem, and submitting good patches to correct the issue.
If, now, there's some other fundamental impediment to distributing a correction to the bug that does not have to do with Google, but rather with the heaploads of cell phone manufacturers who use Google's code and who may or may not have the ability to distribute the fix, why should the vulnerability be made public? I don't see any apparent upside to the public good.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Please follow this guide to disable it:
1. Stand up
2. Take phone in hand
3. Take a few steps to the trash bin
4. Throw phone in trash bin
in build.prop, media.stagefright.enable-player=false
The problem appears to lie in one of the files /system/lib/libstagefright*
NPR is saying that Google Hangouts makes the problem worse:
It would appear prudent to uninstall Google Hangouts. If you can disable MMS with your carrier, do so, otherwise do not look at text messages from originators that you do not know - delete the conversations.
Carriers are unlikely to patch (look at SamsungIME.apk if you think OEMs or carriers will lift a finger to help us).
Root your phone, and await a new set of /system/lib/libstagefright* files - Cyanogenmod will likely provide KitKat copies if they ever shirk their laziness long enough to deliver the final promised KitKat milestone.
So, remote execution vunerbility on nearly 1 billion devices...
I wonder how much they would have made if they had sold it on the black market, instead of telling Google about it?
Please give me your phone numbers so I can text you the fix for this issue.
If Windows or Linux or Unix or any other manufacturer of an operating system had put the ability and responsibility for patching the OS in the hands of the device manufacturers or the ISPs or anybody else, they would all have the same problem that Android is suffering.
Android gets tarnished, not because Google is lax in the updates, but because Google allowed the carriers/device manufacturers to take ownership for patching devices. At least MSFT was smart enough not to leave that up to Dell, Acer, Compaq, HP, etc.
Google should draw a line in the sand and say going forward they will issue the patches and the carriers have to enable that on new devices or they can't play with Android toys.
Imagining everyone who texts you in their underwear.
It's a mix of two factors:
1) Fixes are available for 4.1 and up, *but*
2) Virtually no phones have *received* the patch, because it has to flow through the manufacturer, and they simply don't *care* about updating any phone which isn't currently their flagship model.
If you have rooted your device, you can remount /system in read-write mode, and from there you can remove any file in /system/app (thus removing Google Hangouts if it was installed in this location).
Google, the OEMs, and the carriers have formally abdicated any security stewardship for Android (case in point - Towelroot).
If you wish to maintain a secure Android device, you must root it yourself. No one else can or will help you until you root.
Please follow this guide to disable it:
1. Stand up
2. Take phone in hand
3. Take a few steps to the trash bin
4. Throw phone in trash bin
That was modded "Funny"; but it's actually True for the vast majority of Android Users.
I'm sure the attention this will be receiving from the media will force the vendors to patch this. They wouldn't want a massive turnover to iPhone because they were too lazy to provide a simple patch,
How much would you like to lose on that bet?
The difference is that when Apple patches a security flaw, every semi-current iPhone user worldwide can install the patch and Apple usually patches the current version and one version back. For instance, the "goto fail" security patch that was released in March 2014 patched every phone back to iPhone 3GS in 2009 (patch for 6.x) and IOS 7.