Even though Google has a series of recommended applications for all Android phones, some manufacturers have longer preferred to provide their own core applications and special experiences. For the longest time, Samsung has become one of the biggest causes of that different experience, but lately has tried to redeem a series of applications. That does not mean it is not done with completely, especially pre-installed applications and services that provide the functionality provided by Google and Android. Unfortunately, the application and service can also be the entry point for hackers, as shown by this latest security report.
To be fair, there are times when Google and Android, at least AOSP, do not provide proper applications and OEMs must fight for themselves. Samsung provides SMS applications, telephone books, calendars, and even their own calculators besides services such as Knox security and safe folders to provide functionality that Android does not have. At present, Samsung still installs several of these applications even because also the preloads are equivalent to Google and some actually become security liabilities.
Cellular application security clothing that is too high report no less than seven vulnerabilities in Samsung’s own applications and services. Some of them are decreased found in the Knox safe framework, but others also include the DEX desktop framework and even the UI telephone application. Vulnerability allows hackers to steal SMS, install the Arbitrary application, or get access to files as a system user.
There are other vulnerabilities that are too large, they have not been revealed publicly due to their risk severity. They were responsible to reveal it to Samsung, which patched the weakness and turned it in an update for April and May this year. Samsung said they did not know a report that exploited this shortcoming.
Not infrequently there are applications and software to have security holes, of course, but the closer they are to the core of the operating system, the greater the risk they carry. Nothing is closer to the system rather than the Samsung system application itself, and this report must make Samsung more aware of the responsibilities that it carries with previously installed applications and services that can be deleted or blocked by users.
