Blog

Some Carrier Embedded Android Apps May Have Security Vulnerabilities

Jun 29, 2022 | Blog

Recently, Microsoft reported high severity security vulnerabilities in multiple apps offered by large international mobile service providers.  What makes this especially noteworthy is the fact that these vulnerabilities aren’t app specific, but framework specific.  Many carriers use the same basic framework to construct their apps and now all have been found to contain vulnerabilities.

The vulnerabilities discovered to this point are being tracked as CVE-2021-42598, CVE-2021-42599, CVE-2021-42600, and CVE-2021-42601, respectively.

The framework is owned by a company called mce Systems.  All vulnerabilities center around command injection and privilege escalation type attacks.  Carriers with apps that are impacted include AT&T, TELUS, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, and Freedom Mobile.

Members of the Microsoft 365 Defender team had this to say about the issue:

“The apps were embedded in the devices’ system image, suggesting that they were default applications installed by phone providers.

All of the apps are available on the Google Play Store where they go through Google Play Protect’s automatic safety checks, but these checks previously did not scan for these types of issues.

As it is with many of pre-installed or default applications that most Android devices come with these days, some of the affected apps cannot be fully uninstalled or disabled without gaining root access to the device.”

This is a problem with a truly vast scope.  Just counting the number of downloads from the Google Play Store, the number runs into the millions.  Add to that the number of installed instances that were pre-installed on phones sold by the vendors above, and the scope and scale is simply mindboggling.

If there’s a silver lining to be found, it lies in the fact that all the vendors who have had apps impacted by this issue have already issued updates to fix the problem.

If you have a phone sold to you by any of the providers above, check all your installed apps and make sure you’re running the latest versions.  Better safe than sorry.

FBI Program Tasked with Infrastructure Security Compromised

FBI Program Tasked with Infrastructure Security Compromised

The FBI program tasked with ensuring critical infrastructure security has been compromised by hackers, who now offer access to the program's data on the dark web. The breach was initially disclosed by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, who claims that the data was for...

Streamline Your Business with the Latest Smart Home Technology

Streamline Your Business with the Latest Smart Home Technology

Are you a business owner looking to get the most out of your Google smart home devices? If so, you're in luck! Google has enabled its Nest products and Android OS with the initial rollout of the Matter smart home standard. This means that businesses now have the...

Data Breach at Sequoia One Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

Data Breach at Sequoia One Exposes Sensitive Customer Information

What do you do when your most personal information has been compromised? This is likely the question that customers of Sequoia One asked themselves earlier this month as they were informed that the company had been hacked. Sequoia One specializes in the management of...

Cisco Reports Critical IP Phone Vulnerability

Cisco Reports Critical IP Phone Vulnerability

As a business owner, it's important to stay informed about potential vulnerabilities that could impact your organization. Recently, Cisco reported a critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-20968, affecting its IP Phone 7800 and 8800 Series. This new vulnerability...

Google Chrome Releases Two New Features

Google Chrome Releases Two New Features

Google Chrome is one of the more commonly used web browsers. Over the years, though, Chrome has gained a reputation for utilizing a large portion of a computer's memory. This can be a problem if you're running other resource-intensive tasks and don't want to slow...

Get a Free Consultation

 

Fill out the form below to receive a free consultation and learn how we can make your technology worry-free!

 

Contact Information

  • 39301 Badger Street, Suite 500
    Palm Desert, CA 9221
  • (760) 333-8523
  • info@icn.tech