Vulnerability: Privilege Escalation and Command Execution via Adups Software

CVE-2016-10138 · HIGH Severity

AV:L/AC:L/AU:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

An issue was discovered on BLU Advance 5.0 and BLU R1 HD devices with Shanghai Adups software. The com.adups.fota.sysoper app is installed as a system app and cannot be disabled by the user. In the com.adups.fota.sysoper app's AndroidManifest.xml file, it sets the android:sharedUserId attribute to a value of android.uid.system which makes it execute as the system user, which is a very privileged user on the device. The app has an exported broadcast receiver named com.adups.fota.sysoper.WriteCommandReceiver which any app on the device can interact with. Therefore, any app can send a command embedded in an intent which will be executed by the WriteCommandReceiver component which is executing as the system user. The third-party app, utilizing the WriteCommandReceiver, can perform the following actions: call a phone number, factory reset the device, take pictures of the screen, record the screen in a video, install applications, inject events, obtain the Android log, and others. In addition, the com.adups.fota.sysoper.TaskService component will make a request to a URL of http://rebootv5.adsunflower.com/ps/fetch.do where the commands in the String array with a key of sf in the JSON Object sent back by the server will be executed as the system user. Since the connection is made via HTTP, it is vulnerable to a MITM attack.

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