A Google researcher reports that its certificate signing keys were leaked Samsung, LG, Mediatek and many other OEMs.
Lukasz Siewierski, member of Google's Android Security Team, he published on the Android Partner Vulnerability Initiative (AVPI) issue tracker leaked platform certificate keys used to sign malware.
The post is a list of certificates, but if you run each of them through the APKMirror or the website VirusTotal of Google well-known names will appear: h SamsungThe LG and Mediatek are the big hits on the list of leaked certificates, along with some smaller OEMs like Revoview and Szroco, maker of Walmart's Onn tablets.
Ο Senior Technical Editor Mishaal Rahman, also posted excellent information for the specific leak on Twitter.
As he explains, having an app that has the same UID as the Android system isn't quite root access, but it's close and allows that app to escape any sandboxing restrictions that exist for system apps.
These apps can communicate directly with (or, in the case of malware, spy on) other apps on your phone. Imagine a malicious version of Google Play Services to get an idea.
