Security News > 2020 > May > StrandHogg 2.0 Critical Bug Allows Android App Hijacking

A critical privilege-escalation vulnerability affecting Android devices has been found that allows attackers to hijack any app on an infected phone - potentially exposing private SMS messages and photos, login credentials, GPS movements, phone conversations and more.

The bug is dubbed the "StrandHogg 2.0" vulnerability by the Promon researchers who found it, due to its similarity to the original StrandHogg bug discovered last year.

"StrandHogg 2.0has learned how to, with the correct per-app tailored assets, dynamically attack nearly any app on a given device simultaneously at the touch of a button, unlike StrandHogg which can only attack apps one at a time," according to the research.

Promon said that it expects threat actors to use both the original StrandHogg bug and the new version together, in order to broaden their attack surface: Many of the mitigations that can be executed against StrandHogg do not apply to StrandHogg 2.0 and vice-versa, Promon said.

"Attackers looking to exploit StrandHogg 2.0 will likely already be aware of the original StrandHogg vulnerability and the concern is that, when used together it becomes a powerful attack tool for malicious actors."

News URL

https://threatpost.com/strandhogg-2-critical-bug-android-app-hijacking/156058/