Pierluigi Paganini March 03, 2018

Security researchers at Dr.Web have discovered over 40 models of low-cost Android smartphones are shipped with the dreaded Android Triada banking malware.

Security researchers at Antivirus firm Dr.Web have discovered that 42 models of low-cost Android smartphones are shipped with the Android.Triada.231 banking malware.

“In the middle of 2017, Doctor Web analysts discovered a new Trojan Android.Triada.231 in the firmware of some cheap models of Android devices. Since this detection, the list of infected devices has been constantly increasing.” reads the blog post published by Dr-Web. “At the moment, the list contains over 40 models. Doctor Web specialists have monitored the Trojan’s activity and now we can publish the results of this investigation.”

The Triada Trojan was spotted for the first time in 2016 by researchers at Kaspersky Lab who considered it the most advanced mobile threat seen to the date of the discovery.

Triada was designed with the specific intent to implement financial frauds, typically hijacking financial SMS transactions. The most interesting characteristic of the Triada Trojan is its modular architecture, which gives it theoretically a wide range of abilities.

The only way to remove the threat is to wipe the smartphone and reinstall the OS.

Researchers at Dr.Web discovered the Triada Trojan pre-installed on newly shipped devices of several minor brands, including Advan, Cherry Mobile, Doogee, and Leagoo.

This isn’t the first time the company discovered pre-installed malware on Android devices, back in July 2017 Dr..Web researchers discovered many smartphone models were shipped with the dreaded Triada trojan such as Leagoo M5 Plus, Leagoo M8, Nomu S10, and Nomu S20.

The researchers at Dr.Web who investigated the issue discovered that a software developer from Shanghai was responsible for the infection.

“For example, it was detected on the Leagoo M9 smartphone that was announced in December 2017. Additionally, our analysts’ research showed that the Trojan’s penetration into firmware happened at the request of the Leagoo partner, the software developer from Shanghai.” continues the blog post.

“This company provided Leagoo with one of its applications to be included into an image of the mobile operating system, as well as with an instruction to add third-party code into the system libraries before their compilation. Unfortunately, this controversial request did not evoke any suspicions from the manufacturer. Ultimately, Android.Triada.231 got to the smartphones without any obstacles.”

The infected app found on the device was developed by a Chinese firm, the experts highlighted that the code was signed with the same certificate that was observed in 2016 infections.

“The analysis of this application showed it is signed with the same certificate as Android.MulDrop.924. Doctor Web previously wrote about this Trojan in 2016. We can presume the developer that requested adding the additional program into the mobile operating system image can be connected expressly or implicitly with the distribution of Android.Triada.231.” continues Dr.Web.

At the moment, the experts confirmed to have detected the Android.Triada.231 in the firmware of the following Android device models:

Leagoo M5
Leagoo M5 Plus
Leagoo M5 Edge
Leagoo M8
Leagoo M8 Pro
Leagoo Z5C
Leagoo T1 Plus
Leagoo Z3C
Leagoo Z1C
Leagoo M9
ARK Benefit M8
Zopo Speed 7 Plus
UHANS A101
Doogee X5 Max
Doogee X5 Max Pro
Doogee Shoot 1
Doogee Shoot 2
Tecno W2
Homtom HT16
Umi London
Kiano Elegance 5.1
iLife Fivo Lite
Mito A39
Vertex Impress InTouch 4G
Vertex Impress Genius
myPhone Hammer Energy
Advan S5E NXT
Advan S4Z
Advan i5E
STF AERIAL PLUS
STF JOY PRO
Tesla SP6.2
Cubot Rainbow
EXTREME 7
Haier T51
Cherry Mobile Flare S5
Cherry Mobile Flare J2S
Cherry Mobile Flare P1
NOA H6
Pelitt T1 PLUS
Prestigio Grace M5 LTE
BQ 5510

Unfortunately, the number of infected smartphone models could be much bigger.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Android, Triada Trojan)

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