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Chrome V8 JavaScript Exploit Leaves All Android Devices Ripe For Attack (hothardware.com)

MojoKid writes: If you're an Android user that makes heavy use of Google's Chrome web browser (and what Android user doesn't?), you'll want to pay close attention to a new exploit that has the capability of taking your smartphone hostage. The exploit was demonstrated at MobilePwn2Own, which was held at a Tokyo-based PacSec conference. Quihoo 360 security researcher Guang Gong first uncovered the vulnerability, and thankfully, he hasn't publicly revealed detailed specifics on its inner workings. As soon as a phone accessed the website, the JavaScript v8 vulnerability in Chrome was used to install an arbitrary application (in this case a game) without any user interaction, to demonstrate complete control of the phone. Google reportedly has been made well aware of the exploit and will likely act quickly to resolve it.

5 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Chrome non user by __aagigi1968 · · Score: 0, Insightful

    To answer your first question about android users and chrome,well I don't use it at all,I don't like it,and Google already steal enough data about me,so I don't use chrome browser...

    1. Re:Chrome non user by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I use Firefox on my phone.

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      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
  2. Firefox though? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But... I use Firefox... That addon support was too good to pass up on. Also mostly avoid stuff that uses webview. So I suppose I'm fine?

  3. What Android user doesn't? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Most of them.

  4. Re:Sad by cnettel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you use C/C++ right, you do not end up writing a JIT compiler for a language never intended for it. This is a bug in v8. Now, we don't know where, but that's the kind of code that does things no one sane should ever do. It is supposed to take shortcuts and patch things on the fly. It's of course fully possible that this exploit is not in a performance-critical path, and then your comment is rather well placed. But I do think that anyone writing C/C++ in this context is a fool himself. It is for all practical purposes impossible to use C without doing bare pointer addressing. It is highly possible to use C++ without doing it, even though such use is not terribly widespread.