Critical bug in decoder used by popular chipsets exposes 2/3 of Android devices to hack

Google Android kernel flaw CVE-2024-43093

A critical RCE flaw in Android devices running on Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets could allow access to users’ media files.

Security researchers at Check Point Research have discovered a critical remote code execution that affects the implementation of the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) in Android devices running on Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets.

The ALAC is an audio coding format developed by Apple for lossless data compression of digital music.

ALAC was developed in 2004 and Apple open-sourced it in 2011, since then many third-party vendors used it. Check Point Research reported that Qualcomm and MediaTek chipset makers used a vulnerable version of the ALAC code in their audio decoders, the security firm estimated that more than half of all smartphones worldwide are impacted.

A remote attacker can trigger the vulnerability by tricking the target device into opening a malformed audio file to execute arbitrary code.

“The impact of an RCE vulnerability can range from malware execution to an attacker gaining control over a user’s multimedia data, including streaming from a compromised machine’s camera.” reads the post published by CheckPoint. “In addition, an unprivileged Android app could use these vulnerabilities to escalate its privileges and gain access to media data and user conversations.”

The security firm responsibly shared its findings with MediaTek and Qualcomm and helped them to fix it.

MediaTek tracked the ALAC flaws as CVE-2021-0674 and CVE-2021-0675, while Qualcomm tracked it as CVE-2021-30351.

Both chipset makers addressed the issues in December 2021.

CheckPoint researchers did not disclose details of the flaw to avoid its exploitation in the wild, however, they plan to present their findings during the upcoming CanSecWest in May 2022.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Android)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.