Description

Cisco Talos and the Citizen Lab have conducted a detailed technical analysis of the commercial Android spyware known as 'Predator' and its loader called 'Alien,' shedding light on the data theft capabilities and operational aspects of this spyware. Developed and marketed by Israeli company Intellexa, Predator is a commercial mobile spyware designed for both iOS and Android platforms possessing various functionalities, including call recording, information gathering from messaging apps, and the ability to conceal applications and prevent their execution on compromised Android devices. Moreover, in May 2022, researchers uncovered a series of five zero-day vulnerabilities in Android, which were exploited by the Predator spyware to execute shellcode and deploy its loader, known as 'Alien,' onto targeted devices. The Alien loader is injected into a critical Android process called 'zygote64' and proceeds to download and activate additional components of the spyware according to a predefined configuration. To ensure persistence, Alien retrieves the Predator component from an external source and launches it on the device, or upgrades by replacing the existing payload with a newer version, if available. Subsequently, Alien operates covertly on the compromised device by concealing its components within legitimate system processes to enable discreet communication between them and it receives commands from Predator to execute actions while evading Android security SELinux. It is one of the standout features that sets the spyware apart from other info-stealers and trojans as Alien abuses SELinux’s contexts that defines user permissions and access levels for processes and objects in the system to remove existing restrictions. Additionally, Alien specifically listens for "ioctl" (input/output control) commands related to internal communications within the spyware, which are not inspected by SELinux. Lastly, data and recordings are stored in shared memory by Alien, then transferred and exfiltrated via Predator, all without access violations or SELinux detection. Furthermore, Predator enters the targeted device as an ELF file and sets up a Python runtime environment to enable various espionage functions. Predator, working alongside Alien, provides capabilities like code execution, audio recording, certificate poisoning, app hiding, prevention of post-reboot execution, and directory enumeration. Alien identifies Samsung, Huawei, Oppo, or Xiaomi devices and recursively scans directories for user data from email, messaging, social media, and browser apps. It gathers contact lists and retrieves private media files such as audio, images, and videos. The spyware also utilizes certificate poisoning to install custom certificates for conducting man-in-the-middle attacks and intercepting TLS-encrypted network communication.