Samsung Galaxy Store App Found Vulnerable to Sneaky App Installs and Fraud

Jan 23, 2023

Jan 23, 2023Ravie LakshmananMobile Hacking / App Security

Two security flaws have been disclosed in Samsung’s Galaxy Store
app for Android that could be exploited by a local attacker to
stealthily install arbitrary apps or direct prospective victims to
fraudulent landing pages on the web.

The issues, tracked as CVE-2023-21433 and
CVE-2023-21434, were discovered ^[1]
by NCC Group and notified to the South Korean chaebol in November
and December 2022. Samsung classified ^[2]
the bugs as moderate risk and released fixes in version 4.5.49.8
shipped earlier this month.

Samsung Galaxy Store, previously known as Samsung Apps and
Galaxy Apps, is a dedicated app store used for Android devices
manufactured by Samsung. It was launched in September 2009.

The first of the two vulnerabilities is CVE-2023-21433, which
could enable an already installed rogue Android app on a Samsung
device to install any application available on the Galaxy
Store.

Samsung described it as a case of improper access control that
it said has been patched with proper permissions to prevent
unauthorized access.

It’s worth noting here that the shortcoming only impacts Samsung
devices that are running Android 12 and before, and does not affect
those that are on the latest version (Android 13).

The second vulnerability, CVE-2023-21434, relates to an instance
of improper input validation occurring when limiting the list of
domains that could be launched as a WebView ^[3]
from within the app, effectively enabling a threat actor to bypass
the filter and browse to a domain under their control.

“Either tapping a malicious hyperlink in Google Chrome or a
pre-installed rogue application on a Samsung device can bypass
Samsung’s URL filter and launch a webview to an attacker controlled
domain,” NCC Group researcher Ken Gannon said.

The update comes as Samsung rolled out security updates for the
month of January 2023 to remediate several flaws ^[4], some of which could be
exploited to modify carrier network parameters, control BLE
advertising without permission, and achieve arbitrary code
execution.

Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter ^[5]
and LinkedIn ^[6]
to read more exclusive content we post.

References

^{^}
discovered
(research.nccgroup.com)
^{^}
classified
(security.samsungmobile.com)
^{^}
WebView
(developer.android.com)
^{^}
remediate several flaws
(security.samsungmobile.com)
^{^}
Twitter
 (twitter.com)
^{^}
LinkedIn
(www.linkedin.com)

The Hacker News Headlines

New Apple iOS 16 Exploit Enables Stealthy Cellular Access Under Fake Airplane Mode

Aug 18, 2023

The Hacker News Headlines

China-Linked Bronze Starlight Group Targeting Gambling Sector with Cobalt Strike Beacons

Aug 18, 2023

The Hacker News Headlines

NoFilter Attack: Sneaky Privilege Escalation Method Bypasses Windows Security

Aug 18, 2023

OWASP TOP !0

Injection. Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. The attacker’s hostile data can trick the interpreter into executing unintended commands or accessing data without proper authorization. Broken Authentication. Application functions related to authentication and session management are often implemented incorrectly, allowing attackers to compromise passwords, keys, or session tokens, or to exploit other implementation flaws to assume other users’ identities temporarily or permanently. Sensitive Data Exposure. Many web applications and APIs do not properly protect sensitive data, such as financial, healthcare, and PII. Attackers may steal or modify such weakly protected data to conduct credit card fraud, identity theft, or other crimes. Sensitive data may be compromised without extra protection, such as encryption at rest or in transit, and requires special precautions when exchanged with the browser. XML External Entities (XXE). Many older or poorly configured XML processors evaluate external entity references within XML documents. External entities can be used to disclose internal files using the file URI handler, internal file shares, internal port scanning, remote code execution, and denial of service attacks. Broken Access Control. Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attackers can exploit these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and/or data, such as access other users’ accounts, view sensitive files, modify other users’ data, change access rights, etc. Security Misconfiguration. Security misconfiguration is the most commonly seen issue. This is commonly a result of insecure default configurations, incomplete or ad hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, and verbose error messages containing sensitive information. Not only must all operating systems, frameworks, libraries, and applications be securely configured, but they must be patched/upgraded in a timely fashion. Cross-Site Scripting XSS. XSS flaws occur whenever an application includes untrusted data in a new web page without proper validation or escaping, or updates an existing web page with user-supplied data using a browser API that can create HTML or JavaScript. XSS allows attackers to execute scripts in the victim’s browser which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, or redirect the user to malicious sites. Insecure Deserialization. Insecure deserialization often leads to remote code execution. Even if deserialization flaws do not result in remote code execution, they can be used to perform attacks, including replay attacks, injection attacks, and privilege escalation attacks. Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities. Components, such as libraries, frameworks, and other software modules, run with the same privileges as the application. If a vulnerable component is exploited, such an attack can facilitate serious data loss or server takeover. Applications and APIs using components with known vulnerabilities may undermine application defenses and enable various attacks and impacts. Insufficient Logging & Monitoring. Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with missing or ineffective integration with incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems, maintain persistence, pivot to more systems, and tamper, extract, or destroy data. Most breach studies show time to detect a breach is over 200 days, typically detected by external parties rather than internal processes or monitoring.

Samsung Galaxy Store App Found Vulnerable to Sneaky App Installs and Fraud

References

Related Post

New Apple iOS 16 Exploit Enables Stealthy Cellular Access Under Fake Airplane Mode

China-Linked Bronze Starlight Group Targeting Gambling Sector with Cobalt Strike Beacons

NoFilter Attack: Sneaky Privilege Escalation Method Bypasses Windows Security

You missed

Protected: Rotary VI EAST

Protected: BetterCyberCareer Group

Protected: Benin Club 1931 – Official

Protected: Whatsapp AI Automation Group