Tuesday, April 15, 2014

[fireeye] Occupy Your Icons Silently on Android

FireEye mobile security researchers have discovered a new Android security issue: a malicious app with normal protection level permissions can probe icons on Android home screen and modify them to point to phishing websites or the malicious app itself without notifying the user. Google has acknowledged this issue and released the patch to its OEM partners.

Normal vs. Dangerous Permissions: A Background

Android Open Source Project (AOSP) classifies Android permissions into several protection levels: “normal”, “dangerous”, “system”, “signature” and “development” [1][2][3].
Dangerous permissions “may be displayed to the user and require confirmation before proceeding, or some other approach may be taken to avoid the user automatically allowing the use of such facilities”. In contrast, normal permissions are automatically granted at installation,  “without asking for the user's explicit approval (though the user always has the option to review these permissions before installing)” [1].
On the latest Android 4.4.2 system, if an app requests both dangerous permissions and normal permissions, Android only displays the dangerous permissions, as shown in Figure 1. If an app requests only normal permissions, Android doesn’t display them to the user, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1. An Android app asks for one dangerous permission (INTERNET) and some normal permissions (Launcher’s READ_SETTINGS and WRITE_SETTINGS). Android doesn’t notify the user about the normal permissions.
Figure 1. An Android app asks for one dangerous permission (INTERNET) and some normal permissions (Launcher’s READ_SETTINGS and WRITE_SETTINGS). Android doesn’t notify the user about the normal permissions.
Figure 2. An Android app asks for normal permissions (Launcher’s READ_SETTINGS and WRITE_SETTINGS) only. Android doesn’t show any permission to the user.
Figure 2. An Android app asks for normal permissions (Launcher’s READ_SETTINGS and WRITE_SETTINGS) only. Android doesn’t show any permission to the user.

Normal Permissions Can Be Dangerous

We have found that certain “normal” permissions have dangerous security impacts. Using these normal permissions, a malicious app can replace legit Android home screen icons with fake ones that point to phishing apps or websites.
The ability to manipulate Android home screen icons, when abused, can help an attacker deceive the user. There’s no surprise that the com.android.launcher.permission.INSTALL_SHORTCUT permission, which allows an app to create icons, was recategorized from “normal” to “dangerous” ever since Android 4.2. Though this is an important security improvement, an attacker can still manipulate Android home screen icons using two normal permissions:com.android.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGS and com.android.launcher.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS. These two permissions enable an app to query, insert, delete, or modify the whole configuration settings of the Launcher, including the icon insertion or modification. Unfortunately, these two permissions have been labeled as “normal” since Android 1.x.
As a proof of concept attack scenario, a malicious app with these two permissions can query/insert/alter the system icon settings and modify legitimate icons of some security-sensitive apps, such as banking apps, to a phishing website. We tested and confirmed this attack on a Nexus 7 device with Android 4.4.2. (Note: The testing website was brought down quickly and nobody else ever connected to it.) Google Play doesn’t prevent this app from being published and there’s no warning when a user downloads and installs it. (Note: We have removed the app from Google Play quickly and nobody else downloaded this app.)
Lastly, this vulnerability is not limited to Android devices running AOSP. We have also examined devices that use non-AOSP Launchers, including Nexus 7 with CyanogenMod 4.4.2, Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android 4.3 and HTC One with Android 4.4.2. All of them have the protection levels of com.android.launcher.permission.READ_SETTINGSand WRITE_SETTINGS as “normal”.
Google acknowledged this vulnerability and has released the patch to its OEM partners. Many android vendors were slow to adapt security upgrades. We urge these vendors to patch vulnerabilities more quickly to protect their users.
References:
  1. http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/manifest/permission-element.html
  2. https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/res/AndroidManifest.xml
  3. https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Launcher2/+/master/AndroidManifest.xml

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