Android Stagefright Flaws Put 950 Million Devices at Risk

Threat Post ^ | July 27, 2015 | Michael Mimoso

[bkopto]

Vulnerabilities discovered in the Stagefright media playback engine that is native to Android devices could be the mobile world’s equivalent to Heartbleed. Almost all Android devices contain the security and implementation issues in question; unpatched devices are at risk to straightforward attacks against specific users that put their privacy, data and safety at risk.

Google has patched internal code branches, but devices require over-the-air updates and given the shaky history of handset manufacturers and carriers pushing out security fixes, it’s unknown how long it will take to update vulnerable devices, or whether some will ever get fixed.

SNIP

Drake estimates that 950 million Android devices could be exposed by the half-dozen bugs and implementation issues he’s expected to detail in a presentation next week during the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.

[Excellence]

Thanks for posting.

[null and void]

Android=google

Don’t Be Evil...

[tumblindice]

[DoughtyOne]

Oops.


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[bigbob]

Well, since this vulnerability has been around since Android 2.2, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. Fixes will be forthcoming, let not your heart be troubled.

[keat]

Yeah, sounds like a non-issue. Probably over-hyped by a competing developer.

[pabianice]

No problem at my place

[Up Yours Marxists]

“950 million Android devices could be exposed”

Anyone else notice how BIG this number really is? Not the exposure but the sheer number of Android devices out in the wild. Billions of devices. BILLIONS. Over twice as many as the nearest competitor. Probably 3 times as many.

[dayglored]

StageFright - Very Serious Android vulnerability... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

Anybody got an Android device??

ShadowAce, Swordmaker -- ping for your lists!

[dayglored]

http://fortune.com/2015/07/27/stagefright-android-vulnerability-text/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/07/27/android-text-attacks/

[ShadowAce]

[usconservative]

Android=google

If that's true, then Apple=homosexual agenda.

[usconservative]

Anybody got an Android device??

I do, several of them including several tablets from ASUS, a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and a Samsung Galaxy IV phone.

I'm not worried at all, but then again I don't keep anything personal or private beyond a few family pictures on any of them along with whatever productivity apps I use and sync data between them.

Really not worried about this issue because of that. Anyone who wants to flip on my camera or microphone by all means have at it. They'll discover just how boring my life really is. Who knows, maybe they'll get bored to death?

[null and void]

google wrote the android OS, did Apple write the homosexual agenda OS?

[TexasGator]

“. Fixes will be forthcoming, let not your heart be troubled.”

Fixes will be forthcoming but I doubt that T-Mobile will give me an update.

[dayglored]

> Android=google
> If that's true, then Apple=homosexual agenda.

What in the world are you on about?

Android is an operating system developed by Google, and as such is associated with Google and by extension Google's old motto about "Don't Be Evil".

Please explain your analogy, since it makes no logical sense.

[usconservative]

I did not see that you intended the discussion to be specific to an OS being evil. You simply stated that Google was evil.

If that's true, then Apple=homosexuals. There, I cut it from "homosexual agenda" to a one word response to match yours. Better now?

[usconservative]

and as such is associated with Google and by extension Google's old motto about "Don't Be Evil".

What?! You don't say! I've never heard that. Google's old motto was "don't be evil?" Never, ever heard that before until just now.

So who was Google calling evil then?

[dayglored]

> I'm not worried at all, but then again I don't keep anything personal or private beyond a few family pictures on any of them along with whatever productivity apps I use and sync data between them. Really not worried about this issue because of that. Anyone who wants to flip on my camera or microphone by all means have at it. They'll discover just how boring my life really is. Who knows, maybe they'll get bored to death?

Maybe so, but I would caution you that nefarious hackers can make troublesome use of surprisingly simple and innocent information. I encourage you to consider this a potentially serious problem and see what it would take to update your devices once the manufacturer produces patches.

Better safe than sorry.

And I hope your life becomes less boring. OTOH, there is something to the old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times". Unfortunately, regardless of our individual lives, the times are all too "interesting".