Security News > 2021 > February > SHAREit app for Android said to share way too much: Billion-download code with holes no one wants to fix

Trend Micro has published a report claiming that data-sharing Android app SHAREit, which has over a billion downloads, contains multiple vulnerabilities after the app's maker ignored advice to fix the flaws.

According to Duan and Chang, the SHAREit app implements a broadcast receiver component called "Com.lenovo.anyshare.app.DefaultReceiver" that can be invoked via Android's Intent inter-app communication mechanism from any other app.

Worse still, the app defines a FileProvider - a file sharing API - that allows third-party apps to have temporary file read and write access to the SHAREit app's data, from the app root rather than being narrowly scoped to a specific directory.

While they note that Google Chrome implements a defense against silent app installation via deep link URL, they point out that a local app could still trigger a download and installation from an arbitrary URL. What's more, SHAREit is also vulnerable to a miscreant-in-the-middle attack.

The researchers say that when the app downloads other apps from the download center, it checks an external directory that can be written to by any third-party app that has SDcard write permission.

The app allows the download of other game apps listed in an.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/02/16/shareit_app_flaws/