Blackberry: something bad could get into the ‘walled-garden’

trojanA security notice was issued for Blackberry Enterprise Server admins and users. This is interesting in itself, never mind the broader consideration of it being, another warning, of the potential growth of malware that is starting to target mobile platforms and devices.

RIM, the makers of Blackberry, is advising its users to install a new security update for their handsets. Blackberry, to date, has not had to endure too many security related issues or incidents. Blackberry, being a closed environment, has benefited from being able to more tightly control what gets to happen in it’s own back-yard.  The security flaw, is with respect to how Blackberry software might handle a PDF.  In effect, a PDF attached to an email, may then be used as a surrogate ‘trojan’ to then exploit a flaw in the PDF distiller. This can then lead  to either crashing the sustem or to allow remote code execution. There is nothing particular new in this attack method, or genre, more that Blackberry users could now fall victim to this approach. It would appear that, as of the time of writing, this exploit has not been seen in the ‘wild’.

January 15, 2009 | Filed Under Security 

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