Vulnerability Note VU#251635

Samsung and HTC android phone information disclosure vulnerability

Original Release date: 16 Aug 2012 | Last revised: 24 Aug 2012

Overview

Certain Samsung and HTC android phones store user interactions to the dmesg buffer which could allow a a malicious application to derive certain user-inputted information from the phone.

Description

The Android operating system on certain Samsung and HTC mobile phones store certain user interactions to the dmesg buffer. A user with access to an affected phone and the ability to execute the dmesg application on the phone may be able to view the dmesg buffer without root or administrator rights. The coordinates can be used to read pin numbers, text messages, telephone numbers and other information from the phone.

Impact

It is possible for an attacker with the ability to run dmesg, such as with a malicious application to derive certain user-input from the phone, such as pin numbers, text messages, telephone numbers, and other information from the phone.

Solution

Both Samsung and HTC have reported that security updates have been released to affected handsets. Users are advised to update their phone's to the latest operating system ROM version.

Vendor Information (Learn More)

It has been reported that the following devices are affected. Note that additional devices maybe affected.

  • T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide
  • HTC Merge
  • Sprint EVO Shift 4G
  • HTC ChaCha & AT&T Status
  • HTC Desire Z & T-Mobile G2
  • T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide
  • Samsung Galaxy S

VendorStatusDate NotifiedDate Updated
HTCAffected17 Feb 201208 Aug 2012
SamsungAffected03 Feb 201223 Jul 2012
If you are a vendor and your product is affected, let us know.

CVSS Metrics (Learn More)

Group Score Vector
Base 4.4 AV:L/AC:M/Au:S/C:C/I:N/A:N
Temporal 3.4 E:POC/RL:OF/RC:C
Environmental 4.1 CDP:L/TD:H/CR:ND/IR:ND/AR:ND

References

Credit

Thanks to Glenn ten Cate for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Michael Orlando.

Other Information

  • CVE IDs: CVE-2012-2980
  • Date Public: 16 Aug 2012
  • Date First Published: 16 Aug 2012
  • Date Last Updated: 24 Aug 2012
  • Document Revision: 27

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