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The problem affects 37% of all smartphones in the world.
MediaTek, a Taiwanese company that manufactures a wide range of chips for smartphones and other IoT devices, has released security updates to address dangerous vulnerabilities that could allow malicious Android apps to record sound and spy on phone owners.
Three issues were fixed in October (CVE-2021-0661, CVE-2021-0662, and CVE-2021-0663), and the fourth (CVE-2021-0673) will receive a fix next month. MediaTek chips contain a dedicated AI Processing Unit (APU) and Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to improve media performance and reduce CPU utilization. APU and DSP have individual microprocessor architecture, making MediaTek DSP a challenging target for cybersecurity research. Experts from Check Point were able to reverse engineer the MediaTek audio processor, revealing several vulnerabilities.
Malicious applications installed on the device can interact with the MediaTek audio driver. Applications can send malicious messages to MediaTek's firmware in order to gain control of the driver and then use it to eavesdrop on any audio stream passing through the device.
The vulnerabilities prevent attackers from connecting to microphones, but once audio data passes through the MediaTek driver, it can be recorded, including phone calls, WhatsApp calls, videos in browser and video players.
Today, MediaTek chips are installed on about 37% of all smartphones in the world, and vulnerabilities represent a huge attack surface for any malicious application and malware developer.
As reported by MediaTek, there is currently no evidence that the vulnerabilities were exploited in real attacks.
MediaTek, a Taiwanese company that manufactures a wide range of chips for smartphones and other IoT devices, has released security updates to address dangerous vulnerabilities that could allow malicious Android apps to record sound and spy on phone owners.
Three issues were fixed in October (CVE-2021-0661, CVE-2021-0662, and CVE-2021-0663), and the fourth (CVE-2021-0673) will receive a fix next month. MediaTek chips contain a dedicated AI Processing Unit (APU) and Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to improve media performance and reduce CPU utilization. APU and DSP have individual microprocessor architecture, making MediaTek DSP a challenging target for cybersecurity research. Experts from Check Point were able to reverse engineer the MediaTek audio processor, revealing several vulnerabilities.
Malicious applications installed on the device can interact with the MediaTek audio driver. Applications can send malicious messages to MediaTek's firmware in order to gain control of the driver and then use it to eavesdrop on any audio stream passing through the device.
The vulnerabilities prevent attackers from connecting to microphones, but once audio data passes through the MediaTek driver, it can be recorded, including phone calls, WhatsApp calls, videos in browser and video players.
Today, MediaTek chips are installed on about 37% of all smartphones in the world, and vulnerabilities represent a huge attack surface for any malicious application and malware developer.
As reported by MediaTek, there is currently no evidence that the vulnerabilities were exploited in real attacks.
