“Dirty stream” attack: Discovering and mitigating a common vulnerability pattern in Android apps


Microsoft discovered a path traversal-affiliated vulnerability pattern in multiple popular Android applications that could enable a malicious application to overwrite files in the vulnerable application’s home directory.

The implications of this vulnerability pattern include arbitrary code execution and token theft, depending on an application’s implementation. Arbitrary code execution can provide a threat actor with full control over an application’s behavior. Meanwhile, token theft can provide a threat actor with access to the user’s accounts and sensitive data.

Read more…
Source: Microsoft


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • Google fixes two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities in Android

    April 8, 2025

    Google has patched 62 vulnerabilities in Android, including two actively exploited zero-days in its April 2025 Android Security Bulletin. When we say “zero-day” we mean an exploitable software vulnerability for which there was no patch at the time of the vulnerability being exploited or published. The term reflects the amount of time that a vulnerable organization ...

  • Android zero-day vulnerabilities actively abused – update as soon as you can

    March 5, 2025

    Google has issued updates to fix 43 vulnerabilities in Android, including two zero-days that are being actively exploited in targeted attacks. The updates are available for Android 12, 12L, 13, 14, and 15. Android vendors are notified of all issues at least a month before publication, however, this doesn’t always mean that the patches are available ...

  • New spyware found to be snooping on thousands of Android and iOS users

    February 28, 2025

    Hundreds of thousands of Android users, as well as several thousand iPhone users, have had their sensitive data compromised by a spouseware app, called Spyzie. The apps were found leaking email addresses, text messages, call logs, photographs, and other sensitive data, belonging to millions of people who, without their knowledge or consent, have had these apps ...

  • Spyware maker caught distributing malicious Android apps for years

    February 13, 2025

    Italian spyware maker SIO, known to sell its products to government customers, is behind a series of malicious Android apps that masquerade as WhatsApp and other popular apps but steal private data from a target’s device, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Late last year, a security researcher shared three Android apps with TechCrunch, claiming they were likely ...

  • Download a banking Trojan to track your parcel

    December 17, 2024

    In late October 2024, a new scheme for distributing a certain Android banking Trojan called “Mamont” was uncovered. The victim would receive an instant message from an unknown sender asking to identify a person in a photo. The attackers would then send what appeared to be the photo itself but was actually a malware installer. Shortly ...

  • MOONSHINE Exploit Kit and DarkNimbus Backdoor Enabling Earth Minotaur’s Multi-Platform Attacks

    December 5, 2024

    Trend Micro researchers have been continuously monitoring the MOONSHINE exploit kit’s activity since 2019. During our research, they discovered a MOONSHINE exploit kit server with improper operational security: Its server exposed MOONSHINE’s toolkits and operation logs, which revealed the information of possible victims and the attack tactics of a threat actor we have named Earth ...