A Vulnerability In Android App ShareIt May Have Allowed Hackers To Infuse Malware
Different unpatched weaknesses have been found in SHAREit, which is a famous application with more than one billion downloads, that could be mishandled to release a client’s delicate information, execute malicious code, and conceivably result in remote code execution.
The vulnerabilities were discovered through Trend Micro‘s examination of the Android variant of the application that permits clients to share and move documents, files, and apps between different gadgets and devices.
Be that as it may, in a troubling turn, the vulnerabilities are yet to be fixed by Smart Media4U Technology Pte. Ltd., which is the Singapore-based actual developer of the application, regardless of mindful disclosure three months prior.
Echo Duan, a Trend Micro researcher, said that “We decided to disclose our research three months after reporting this since many users might be affected by this attack because the attacker can steal sensitive data and do anything with the apps’ permission. It is also not easily detectable.”
One of the vulnerabilities emerged from the way the application features sharing of files, documents, and apps, through Android’s FileProvider, conceivably permitting any outsider to acquire temporary read and write access authorizations and exploit them to overwrite existing documents in the application’s information directory.
Independently, the utilization of profound links to launch explicit features/services in the application, including downloading split APK (SAPK) files from a URL that has the plan of HTTP/HTTPS and domain host that matches *.wshareit.com or gshare.cdn.shareitgames.com can be utilized to introduce a noxious application, bringing about a potential remote code execution when a client taps on a URL.
Duan clarified, “When the user clicks this download URL, Chrome will call SHAREit to download the SAPK from here. Since it supports the HTTP protocol, this SAPK can be replaced by simulating a Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack.”
Finally, the application is likewise defenseless to what exactly is known as a Man-in-the-disk (MitD) assault, which emerges when thoughtless/careless utilization of external storage consents and permissions makes the way for the establishment of fraudulent applications and even causes a DoS (Denial-of-Service) incident.
SHAREit has sought a reasonable amount of security inadequacies previously. In February 2019, two weaknesses were identified in the application that could permit assailants to sidestep authentication, download malicious files/documents, and steal documents and files from Android gadgets/devices.
At that point on June 29, 2020, the Indian government restricted/banned SHAREit alongside 58 other Chinese applications over worries that these applications were participating in tasks that undermined “national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.”
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