Webview mail app vulnerability

By | September 26, 2013

WebView is an essential component in Android and iOS. It enables applications to display content from on-line resources. It simplifies task of performing a network request, parsing the data and rendering it. WebView uses a number of APIs which can interact with the web contents inside WebView. In the current paper, Cross-site scripting attacks or XSS attacks specific to Android WebView are discussed. Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of vulnerability commonly found in web applications. This vulnerability makes it possible for attackers to run malicious code into victim’s WebView, through HttpClient APIs. Using this malicious code, the attackers can steal the victim’s credentials, such as cookies. The access control policies (i.e., the same origin policy) employed by the browser to protect those credentials can be bypassed by exploiting the XSS vulnerability.

Avast has published a detailed blog regarding the same. Follow this link to find out more details about this exploit.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *