this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2025
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[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 113 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Normally I would agree with this perspective, but in this case the "malicious app" is just a demo. It requires no permissions to do the malicious behavior, which means that the relevant code could be included in any app and wouldn't trigger a user approval, a permissions request or a security alert. This could be hiding in anything that you install.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Man in the middle an app download or find some kind of exploit to inject the code from a website, ta da.

I mean, obviously there's more to it than this but.

That's how these things work. They're chained.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Hmm, yes that can happen, but can it happen if you're downloading directly from the Play store?

[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

first you download something and it has nothing malicious, then you update it later and then it has something.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There are reports all the time of play store apps containing malware.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I'm sure there are apps that have malware built in yes, but I mean the MITM approach during an app download that you were describing.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Oh.

Not sure. I was speaking in hypotheticals. I'm sure it's possible though.

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So they're using the same programs that the three letter agencies of the world have been using to crack phones since before touchscreens existed?

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 4 points 2 days ago

This article doesn't really address that. I don't think there's any indication that this particular vulnerability is related to nation-state hacking.

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au -1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

So it could be hiding in, what would you call them…….malicious apps?

The relevant code isn’t going to be in a non malicious app.

[–] ReginaPhalange@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Listen Mr Zuckerberg, we can improve our ad revenue immensely if we can do this one little trick to Facebook's code..

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Um, ok, and how would you know the difference?

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Because if it’s doing this it’s a malicious app….

Google also said they’ve found zero apps doing this.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 3 points 2 days ago

Because if it’s doing this it’s a malicious app….

OK, how would you know?

Google also said they’ve found zero apps doing this.

So what? There are millions of apps on the Play store, they aren't all being reviewed with this level of scrutiny. This means basically nothing.