Η Check Point Research (CPR), its research team Check Point Software, points out security holes in its chip MediaTek processor found in 37% of smartphones worldwide.
ΑIf these vulnerabilities were not fixed, a hacker could exploit the vulnerabilities to eavesdrop on Android users, but also to hide malicious code on their devices.
Η Check Point Research (CPR) identified security holes in the Taiwanese company chip smartphone chip, MediaTek. Her chip MediaTek it is at 37% of smartphones worldwide and serves as the main processor for almost every notable Android device, including Xiaomi, Oppo, Realme, Vivo and others. Security vulnerabilities have been identified in the chip's audio processor, and if left unchecked, vulnerabilities could allow a hacker to eavesdrop on an Android user and / or hide malicious code.
the history
Her chips MediaTek contain a special processing unit AI (APU) and a digital audio signal processor (DSP) to improve multimedia performance and reduce CPU usage. Both APU as much as DSP audio have custom microprocessor architectures, making it MediaTek DSP a unique and difficult goal for security research. THE CPR began to be concerned about the extent to which the MediaTek DSP could be used as an attack vehicle for the perpetrators. For the first time, the CPR managed to do reverse engineering of its audio processor MediaTek, revealing several security vulnerabilities.
The Methodology of the attack
To exploit vulnerabilities, the sequence of actions of a threatening agent, in theory, would be as follows:
- A user installs a malicious application from the Play Store and launches it
- The application uses the MediaTek API to attack a library that has access to the audio driver
- The permissions application sends edited messages to the audio driver to execute code in the audio processor firmware
- The application steals the audio stream
Responsible Disclosure
CPR officially disclosed its findings to MediaTek, creating the following: CVE-2021-0661, CVE-2021-0662, CVE-2021-0663. These three vulnerabilities were subsequently corrected and published in MediaTek Security Bulletin in October 2021. The security problem in MediaTek audio HAL (CVE-2021-0673) was corrected in October and will be published in its Security Bulletin MediaTek the December of 2021.
CPR also informed Xiaomi of its findings.
Comment by Slava Makkaveev, Security Researcher at Check Point Software:
Although we do not see any concrete evidence of such abuse, we moved quickly to communicate our findings to the MediaTek and Xiaomi. In short, we have proven a completely new attack vector that could have abused the Android API. Our message to the Android community is to update their devices to the latest security update to keep them protected. THE MediaTek worked diligently with us to ensure that these security issues were rectified in a timely manner and we are grateful for their cooperation and spirit for a safer world.
Comment by Tiger Hsu, Product Security Officer at MediaTek:
We encourage users to update their devices when fixes are available and to install apps only from trusted sites, such as the Google Play Store. We value collaboration with the Check Point research team to make the MediaTek product ecosystem more secure.
For more information, see: MediaTek Product Security.
Press Release
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