Saint StrandHogg 2.0, Evil Twin of Apps

Patron of login screens that look real, apps disguised as other apps, and Android phones that never got updated.

Life

In May 2020 Promon presented the sequel to StrandHogg: an Android flaw (CVE-2020-0096) that let a malicious app slip in place of almost any other app. The user tapped the bank's icon and faced a perfect copy, ready to collect passwords and permissions. It affected every version before Android 10, over a billion devices, and Google fixed it in the May 2020 update.

Prayer

O Saint StrandHogg, who comes wearing another face, let the app behind every icon be the one we installed. Amen.

How to celebrate

Celebrated by installing the May 2020 security patch and looking twice at every screen that asks for a password.

Not everything with the right icon is the right app.