Backdoor snoops can access files on your Samsung phone via the cell network claim
4 reasons to outsource your DNS
The developers of Replicant, a pure free-software version of Android, claim to have discovered a security hole in certain Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets one so serious that it could potentially grant an attacker remote access to the device's file system.
Among the devices said to be vulnerable are the Nexus S, Galaxy S, Galaxy S 2, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Tab 2, GalaxySIII, and Galaxy Note 2 and there may be others.
The flaw lies in the software that enables communication between the Android OS and the device's radio modem, according to the Replicant project's Paul Kocialkowski.
"This program is shipped with the Samsung Galaxy devices and makes it possible for the modem to read, write and delete files on the phone's storage," Kocialkowski wrote in a guest post to a Free Software Foundation blog. "On several phone models, this program runs with sufficient rights to access and modify the user's personal data."
Like most smartphone vendors, Samsung ships its mobes with a preinstalled version of Android that's a mix of open source and proprietary software. Generally speaking, any code that directly interfaces with the hardware is proprietary and that includes the modem.
In the case of Galaxy devices, Android's Radio Interface Layer (RIL) communicates with the modem using a Samsung-specific protocol. According to the Replicant website, that protocol includes support for a complete set of commands for performing read/write operations on the phone's internal file system.
That's troubling, Kocialkowski says, because the modem is powered by a separate microprocessor from the CPU that runs the rest of the phone's functions. And because this processor runs a proprietary operating system like virtually all phone modems do it's not readily apparent what it's capable of doing.
If the modem can be controlled remotely over the cell network which Kocialkowski believes is not just possible but likely then it can potentially be made to issue file system commands that leak, overwrite, corrupt, or otherwise compromise the handset's data.
"It is possible to build a device that isolates the modem from the rest of the phone, so it can't mess with the main processor or access other components such as the camera or the GPS," Kocialkowski says. "Very few devices offer such guarantees. In most devices, for all we know, the modem may have total control over the applications processor and the system, but that's nothing new."
See the article here:
Backdoor snoops can access files on your Samsung phone via the cell network claim