ID: IRCNE2011081227
Date: 2011-08-24
According to "computerworld", Researchers have spotted the first malware that exploits a critical vulnerability in Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread.
Earlier threats aimed at Google's Android, including the widely-distributed DroidDream and DroidDream Light, exploited bugs in older versions of the mobile operating system but were not able to hijack Gingerbread-powered smartphones.
Last Thursday, Xuxian Jiang, an assistant professor in computer science at North Carolina State University, said that his team and Beijing-based NetQin Mobile Security had identified new "high-risk" malware that can root, or completely compromise, Android 2.3. Jiang named the malware "GingerMaster."
Like most Android malware, GingerMaster hides inside legitimate Android applications that attackers have pirated, added malware to, then re-released onto popular download markets.
"Due to the fact that GingerMaster contains the most recent root exploit, we consider it poses one of the most serious threats to mobile users," Jiang said.
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