4 ms·

Title is misleading. No "hijacking" is taking place, they are obtaining the Cell ID (approximate location) and IMEI info from the phone, by sending it a malicio

• akersten 7y ago
  Why in the world is this API surface even available, and why aren't Google / Apple / handset manufacturers scrambling to patch this?
  • rocqua 7y ago
    I guess it is available to the baseband, not the actual iser facing OS.
  • zenexer 7y ago
    Google and Apple can't do anything to mitigate this. Edit: The following is incorrect. SIM cards are self-contained computers. Among other things, they're responsible for encrypting and decrypting communications between your phone and your carrier. This means that a SIM card will see the contents of a message before your OS or other hardware in your phone does. These exploits should work just as well against "dumb" phones as smartphones because they're not attacking the actual phones. This API exists because SIM cards are self-contained computers; they need a way to communicate with everything else.
    • 0b0001 7y ago
      That's not the case. SIM cards hold the permanent key for authentication and perform key derivation. Mobile data doesn't pass the SIM card; it does not perform the encryption and decryption.
      • zenexer 7y ago
        Good point--I tend to forget that. The rather vague article seems to indicate the actual SMS content is being sent to the SIM, though. Why is that?
        • opless 7y ago
          Dumb/feature phones saved SMS messages to the SIM card as simple cards have a limited amount of memory that is dedicated to a crude phonebook and SMS store. Smartphones and smarter feature phones (can) use their own storage for that. You could disable/enable the phonebook/save to SIM features on feature phones and early smartphones. (I'm talking about win CE and symbian phones being early smartphones here)
    • GMLOOKO 7y ago
      A
• farisjarrah 7y ago
  Seems like a highjack may be possible actually... Here is a list of other things they listed they can do with the simjacker exploit that goes beyond simple data exfiltration: > PLAY TONE > SEND SHORT MESSAGE > SET UP CALL > SEND USSD > SEND SS > PROVIDE LOCAL INFORMATION > Location Information, IMEI, Battery, Network, Language, etc > POWER OFF CARD > RUN AT COMMAND > SEND DTMF COMMAND > LAUNCH BROWSER > OPEN CHANNEL > CS BEARER, DATA SERVICE BEARER, LOCAL BEARER, UICC SERVER MODE, etc > SEND DATA > GET SERVICE INFORMATION > SUBMIT MULTIMEDIA MESSAGE > GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION REQUEST
  • deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  • mercora 7y ago
    running arbitrary AT commands gives lots of potential... i wish they would provide (a lot) more details about their claims :(
    • garaetjjte 7y ago
      When I recently watched this talk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31D94QOo2gY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31D94QOo2gY, I wondered about that, that is if malicious STK app from network operator could execute AT commands on phone (and compromise device using commands from https://www.usenix.org/node/217625 https://www.usenix.org/node/217625). But from what I gathered from cursory search, RUN AT COMMAND isn't supported by most devices. (ETSI TS 102 223 states "This clause applies if class "b" is supported by the terminal and enabled by the subscriber through the terminal. ")
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• dang 7y ago
  Ok, we'll go with that title above.
• lejoko 7y ago
  For me, sending SMS messages on your behalf (without you even knowing) or dialling premium rate numbers is definitely hijacking.
• GMLOOKO 7y ago
  A