In spite of the fact that Android is a modern, powerful and dependable operating system. But sometimes a flaw present as security holes can compromise its operation. An important Android vulnerability related to the Bluetooth module came in existence which gives opportunity to attackers to execute malicious code without being suspicious.
Android 9 Pie and Android 8 Oreo are the victims of a serious Bluetooth module security bug
Jan Ruge, a researcher at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, discovered the flaw. His in-depth study and discoveries made it clear that there are two particular conditions in order to be exploited by an attacker who can use this flaw in Android. The security impact is as follows:
- On Android 8.0 to 9.0, a remote attacker within proximity can silently execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Bluetooth daemon as long as Bluetooth is enabled. No user interaction is required and only the Bluetooth MAC address of the target devices has to be known. For some devices, the Bluetooth MAC address can be deduced from the WiFi MAC address. This vulnerability can lead to theft of personal data and could potentially be used to spread malware (Short-Distance Worm).
- On Android 10, this vulnerability is not exploitable for technical reasons and only results in a crash of the Bluetooth daemon.
- Android versions even older than 8.0 might also be affected but we have not evaluated the impact. Link
If both the conditions are true, the flaw with CVE-2020-0022 identification, can make your Android device vulnerable. Thes would allow attackers to remotely access and execute the malicious code on Android devices.
Google’s New Security Update Fixed This
Ruge announced the discovery to Google last November 2019 which is now officially resolved with latest security patches of February 2020 – link to the Android security bulletin. Google has patched this week a critical security flaw in Android’s Bluetooth component. If left un-patched, the vulnerability can be exploited without any user interaction. Experts said that it can even be used to create self-spreading Bluetooth worms.
Fixes for the bug are available via the Android February 2020 Security Bulletin, which has been available for download starting this week.
Android security is a very important element for Google. We should thank to the bounty program in which the US company encourages independent researchers and external companies to test the strength of Android behind a cash compensation in case of discoveries such as those we have just seen.
