HTC has confirmed that a number of its more recent Android smartphones are vulnerable to a security flaw in its HTC Sense software. The vulnerability was first reported by AndroidPolice.com this past weekend. Potentially malicious applications can easily gain access to information such as the account user list including email addresses, GPS location data, phone numbers from the phone log, SMS data and system logs.
HTC has issued the following statement:
HTC takes claims related to the security of our products very seriously. In our ongoing investigation into this recent claim, we have concluded that while this HTC software itself does no harm to customers’ data, there is a vulnerability that could potentially be exploited by a malicious third-party application. A third party malware app exploiting this or any other vulnerability would potentially be acting in violation of civil and criminal laws. So far, we have not learned of any customers being affected in this way and would like to prevent it by making sure all customers are aware of this potential vulnerability.
HTC is working very diligently to quickly release a security update that will resolve the issue on affected devices. Following a short testing period by our carrier partners, the patch will be sent over-the-air to customers, who will be notified to download and install it. We urge all users to install the update promptly. During this time, as always, we strongly urge customers to use caution when downloading, using, installing and updating applications from untrusted sources.
As per the statement, HTC is already working on a patch to address the issue. To date, the company has not provided a clear time frame as to when it expects to begin pushing it out over-the-air (OTA). In the meantime, customers are urged to download apps only from trusted publishers.