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Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

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Re: Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

#3

Post by iamcalledrob »

Hopefully a relatively easy fix on the OS side: ensure that these toasts have a higher z-index than app overlay windows.

Sidenote: I really hope Android doesn't lose the ability to do things like these overlay windows.

These types of "power user" features are often where innovation happens. It makes me sad when flexible general purpose APIs are replaced with locked down, specific ones. (e.g. overlay windows API -> a specific "chat heads" API).

The new APIs might be fine for current use cases, but ensure that innovation terminates at whatever th OS vendor designed.

Re: Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

#4

Post by jeroenhd »

I can see the issue, but SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW isn't a permission you'd normally give to an app. You can probably trick some users into giving that permission, but it's not easy and Google Play will probably kick your app out of the Play Store if you try to use it in the first place.

Abuse from system apps is a potential threat but you can't really do much about those. System apps can bypass all manners of restrictions, I'm not sure if clipboard access is something to be particularly worried about when system apps can already read your entire SD card and bypass app firewalls/VPNs.

Re: Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

#5

Post by jeroenhd »

iamcalledrob wrote: post #3

Hopefully a relatively easy fix on the OS side: ensure that these toasts have a higher z-index than app overlay windows. Sidenote: I really hope Android doesn't lose the ability to do things like these overlay windows. These types of "power user" features are often where innovation happens. It makes me sad when flexible general purpose APIs are replaced with locked down, specific ones. (e.g. overlay windows API -> a…

> Hopefully a relatively easy fix on the OS side: ensure that these toasts have a higher z-index than app overlay windows.

The point of the system overlay permission is to draw on top of everything else. Maybe Android should introduce some kind of overlay overlay overlay to overlay clipboard messages, but I think that would probably overcomplicate the API.

Perhaps it's better to instead send a notification when an application rendering a system overlay accesses the clipboard as well. That way, users closing out of the app can see that the application has accessed the clipboard.

Of course sufficiently privileged applications can dismiss notifications, but that requires even more difficult to attain permissions.

Re: Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

#6

Post by kelnos »

Unless I'm misreading this, it sounds like an app can only suppress the clipboard paste toast if either:

1) It's a system app, and thus has permission to "legally" suppress the notification. This can be a problem for pre-installed third-party apps. But if your phone doesn't have those, you're fine. (More or less; I don't love the idea that system apps can suppress the notification, period.)

2) It's an app that you've explicitly granted permission to draw over top of other apps. Which is a permission that's hard to accidentally grant, and is a permission that you shouldn't grant to any app, unless you super super super super trust it.

Seems like kinda a nothingburger?

Re: Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

#7

Post by debatem1 »

iamcalledrob wrote: post #3

Hopefully a relatively easy fix on the OS side: ensure that these toasts have a higher z-index than app overlay windows. Sidenote: I really hope Android doesn't lose the ability to do things like these overlay windows. These types of "power user" features are often where innovation happens. It makes me sad when flexible general purpose APIs are replaced with locked down, specific ones. (e.g. overlay windows API -> a…

> It makes me sad when flexible general purpose APIs are replaced with locked down, specific ones. (e.g. overlay windows API -> a specific "chat heads" API).

Doesn't have to be a replacement. It's good when you add specific APIs to do specific things that aren't very dangerous and then have the super dangerous one left as a risk signal. Innovation can still happen, common things get easier, and dangerous things get rarer. Feels pretty good to me.

Re: Demo: Android 14 Clipboard Manager Data Leak Security Issue

#8

Post by jwells89 »

kelnos wrote: post #6

Unless I'm misreading this, it sounds like an app can only suppress the clipboard paste toast if either: 1) It's a system app, and thus has permission to "legally" suppress the notification. This can be a problem for pre-installed third-party apps. But if your phone doesn't have those, you're fine. (More or less; I don't love the idea that system apps can suppress the notification, period.) 2) It's an app that you've…

The first scenario is a possibility for a lot of budget phones, as well as carrier-distributed phones. Both include bundled third party "system" apps, especially the budget phones where the bundleware is more likely to be from questionable devs.

It's something most of us knew already, but it's just another reason why it's a bad idea to buy dirt cheap crapware-subsidized phones, and why it's better to buy phones through electronics retailers or from the manufacturer and to steer clear of purchasing through carriers.

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