Research firm: Google Android SDK has multiple vulnerabilities

Google's Android SDK is facing multiple vulnerabilities that are remotely exploitable, according to Core Security Technologies.

In an advisory, Core Security noted heap and interflow overflow issues with Android and reserved eight CVE identifiers.

Core noted:

Several vulnerabilities have been found in Android's core libraries for processing graphic content in some of the most used image formats (PNG, GIF an BMP). While some of these vulnerabilities stem from the use of outdated and vulnerable open source image processing libraries other were introduced by native Android code that use them or that implements new functionality.

Exploitation of these vulnerabilities to yield complete control of a phone running the Android platform has been proved possible using the emulator included in the SDK, which emulates phone running the Android platform on an ARM microprocessor.

The company also outlined a proof of concept exploit with technical descriptions of each. It's worth a read. However, Android is a work in progress so fixes for these vulnerabilities are likely to be implemented.

More reading:

• eWeek's Ryan Naraine on Android's vulnerabilities.
• Jason Chen on the Android Developer's Blog noting that the most recent update fixed "a security issue involving handling of image files."
• Ed Burnette on Android from a developer's view.