Android bug lets attackers install malware without warning

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/20/google_android_vulnerability_patching/

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
The Register
20th September 2011

It's been more than a month since researchers reported two serious 
security vulnerabilities in Android, but so far there's no indication 
when they will be purged from the Google-spawned operating system that's 
the world's most popular smartphone platform.

The first flaw allows apps to be installed without prompting users for 
permission. The permission-escalation vulnerability permits attackers to 
surreptitiously install malware in much the way a proof-of-concept 
exploit researcher Jon Oberheide published last year did. In that case, 
an app he planted in the Android Market and disguised as an expansion 
pack for the Angry Birds game secretly installed three additional apps 
that without warning monitored a phone's contacts, location information 
and text messages so data could transmitted to a remote server.

“The Android Market ecosystem continues to be a ripe area for bugs,” 
Oberheide wrote in an email. “There are some complex interactions 
between the device and Google's Market servers which has only been made 
more complex and dangerous by the Android Web Market.”

The second bug resides in the Linux kernel where Android originates and 
makes it possible for installed apps with limited privileges to gain 
full control over the device. The vulnerability is contained in code 
device manufacturer have put into some of Android's most popular 
handsets, including the Nexus S. The bug undermines the security model 
Google developers created to contain the damage any one application can 
do to the overall phone.

[...]

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