Android exploit targeted apps' shoddy use of external storage

Many mobile security flaws revolve around obvious avenues like websites or deep, operating system-level exploits. The security team at Check Point, however, has discovered another path: apps that make poor use of external storage like SD cards. While apps would ideally stick to internal storage (which Google sandboxes against outside influence) as much as possible, some apps have relied unnecessarily on unprotected external storage and didn't bother to validate the data coming from that space. An intruder could take advantage of that poor security policy to manipulate the data and cause havoc -- Check Point called it a "man-in-the-disk" attack.

Via: Wired

Source: Check Point, Def Con

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