A potentially harmful version of the StrandHogg, has been documented by security firm, Promon. The firm claims this version of the exploit could allow hackers gain access to private data on almost all versions of android. This document was created for the exploit after the firm discovered how widespread and dangerous it could be. A proof-of-concept version of this StrandHogg exploit has been known by security researchers since 2015.

The exploit works by interrupting the flow of an app from launch to welcome screen. It forces a user to give permission to a piece of malware before allowing the original app to run. According to Promon, all versions including the latest Android 10, are affected. It claims patched, seemingly secured phones are also vulnerable.

Lars Lunde Birkeland, Promon’s Marketing and Communication Director, said, when the victim clicks on the legit app, instead of being directed to it, the malware misleads the device to show a permission pop-up. From there, the victim gives the malware and the attacker the permissions, and then the user is redirected back to the legit app.

During the research, it was revealed that, a Trojan program known as BankBot, used the exploit to give itself powerful permissions that could intercept SMS messages, and forward calls, among others. It can even go to the extent of locking a phone until the user pays a ransom. This is a major concern for users who run banking, financial or wallet apps on their phones.

Birkeland described this vulnerability as quiet serious since it gives the attacker the ability to carry out quiet powerful attacks. Promon first discovered this malware after several banks in the Czech Republic had reported money vanishing from customer accounts. From there, the firm was able to identify that the malware was being used to exploit a dangerous android vulnerability, through further research.

The researchers affirmed that Google had removed the affected apps. However, they claim the vulnerability has not yet been fixed for any Android version.

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