Researchers say cell malware purveyors have been abusing a bug within the Google Android platform that lets them sneak malicious code into cell apps and evade safety scanning instruments. Google says it has up to date its app malware detection mechanisms in response to the brand new analysis.
At problem is a cell malware obfuscation methodology recognized by researchers at ThreatFabric, a safety agency primarily based in Amsterdam. Aleksandr Eremin, a senior malware analyst on the firm, advised KrebsOnSecurity they lately encountered a variety of cell banking trojans abusing a bug current in all Android OS variations that entails corrupting parts of an app in order that its new evil bits might be ignored as invalid by well-liked cell safety scanning instruments, whereas the app as a complete will get accepted as legitimate by Android OS and efficiently put in.
“There may be malware that’s patching the .apk file [the app installation file], in order that the platform remains to be treating it as legitimate and runs all of the malicious actions it’s designed to do, whereas on the identical time quite a lot of instruments designed to unpack and decompile these apps fail to course of the code,” Eremin defined.
Eremin mentioned ThreatFabric has seen this malware obfuscation methodology used a number of occasions prior to now, however in April 2023 it began discovering many extra variants of identified cell malware households leveraging it for stealth. The corporate has since attributed this enhance to a semi-automated malware-as-a-service providing within the cybercrime underground that can obfuscate or “crypt” malicious cell apps for a price.
Eremin mentioned Google flagged their preliminary Might 9, 2023 report as “excessive” severity. Extra lately, Google awarded them a $5,000 bug bounty, although it didn’t technically classify their discovering as a safety vulnerability.
“This was a novel scenario during which the reported problem was not categorized as a vulnerability and didn’t influence the Android Open Supply Challenge (AOSP), however did end in an replace to our malware detection mechanisms for apps that may attempt to abuse this problem,” Google mentioned in a written assertion.
Google additionally acknowledged that among the instruments it makes out there to builders — together with APK Analyzer — presently fail to parse such malicious functions and deal with them as invalid, whereas nonetheless permitting them to be put in on person gadgets.
“We’re investigating attainable fixes for developer instruments and plan to replace our documentation accordingly,” Google’s assertion continued.
Picture: ThreatFabric.
Based on ThreatFabric, there are a number of telltale indicators that app analyzers can search for which will point out a malicious app is abusing the weak point to masquerade as benign. For starters, they discovered that apps modified on this manner have Android Manifest recordsdata that comprise newer timestamps than the remainder of the recordsdata within the software program package deal.
Extra critically, the Manifest file itself might be modified in order that the variety of “strings” — plain textual content within the code, resembling feedback — specified as current within the app does match the precise variety of strings within the software program.
One of many cell malware households identified to be abusing this obfuscation methodology has been dubbed Anatsa, which is a complicated Android-based banking trojan that sometimes is disguised as a innocent software for managing recordsdata. Final month, ThreatFabric detailed how the crooks behind Anatsa will buy older, deserted file managing apps, or create their very own and let the apps construct up a substantial person base earlier than updating them with malicious parts.
ThreatFabric says Anatsa poses as PDF viewers and different file managing functions as a result of a majority of these apps have already got superior permissions to take away or modify different recordsdata on the host system. The corporate estimates the individuals behind Anatsa have delivered greater than 30,000 installations of their banking trojan through ongoing Google Play Retailer malware campaigns.
Google has come underneath fireplace in current months for failing to extra proactively police its Play Retailer for malicious apps, or for once-legitimate functions that later go rogue. This Might 2023 story from Ars Technica a few previously benign display recording app that turned malicious after garnering 50,000 customers notes that Google doesn’t remark when malware is found on its platform, past thanking the skin researchers who discovered it and saying the corporate removes malware as quickly because it learns of it.
“The corporate has by no means defined what causes its personal researchers and automatic scanning course of to overlook malicious apps found by outsiders,” Ars’ Dan Goodin wrote. “Google has additionally been reluctant to actively notify Play customers as soon as it learns they had been contaminated by apps promoted and made out there by its personal service.”
The Ars story mentions one doubtlessly optimistic change by Google of late: A safety measure out there in Android variations 11 and better that implements “app hibernation,” which places apps which have been dormant right into a hibernation state that removes their beforehand granted runtime permissions.
