this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2023
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Boost For Lemmy

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Is Boost for Lemmy vulnerable to the webp exploit? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by DungFu@lemmy.world to c/boostforlemmy@lemmy.world
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What version of libwebp does Boost use and if it is currently vulnerable, when can we expect an update to fix this issue? The affected versions of libwebp are 0.5.0 to 1.3.1.

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[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 32 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's provided through Android itself. Just update your phone and you'll be good.

[–] DungFu@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ah ok, I'll just stop using Boost until the October pixel update rolls out then

[–] isVeryLoud@lemmy.ca 33 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You should stop using your phone entirely if you're that worried.

The vast majority of apps use the Android Web View component. No point in rolling their own, really.

[–] DungFu@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Not really, just temporarily not using apps where random people can post images that are not re-encoded. Turns out this is very few apps, but sadly every lemmy app falls under this category.

[–] Prizephitah@feddit.nu 15 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Surely Android provides security updates?

[–] seaQueue@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Depending on where the library lives in the Android ecosystem the update could be pushed by the play store framework as part of it's self-update capability or it could be pushed by the OEM with the next system OTA. If it's part of a system update you're at the mercy of the OEM's OTA schedule, Samsung hasn't pushed anything for my tablet in like 8mo, same for my OnePlus phone before the update this week.

Based on this discussion here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37658635) it sounds like we're all waiting for an OEM OTA, for some reason the video codecs are rolled into the play framework's updates but not the image decoding libraries.

People running LineageOS and other AOSP based firmwares should be covered after their ROMs integrate the next month security patch.

[–] Prizephitah@feddit.nu 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So there is no central framework for pushing fixes to urgent fixes? Patching zero-days?

[–] seaQueue@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Welcome to the wonderful world of Android. They're rolled into the monthly AOSP security patch and end users are at the mercy of the OEM's update schedule.

This is why Pixel phone regular updates are a big deal, and a reason to run a regularly updated third party ROM like LineageOS.

[–] Flyswat@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

This is why Pixel phone regular updates are a big deal, and a reason to run a regularly updated third party ROM like LineageOS.

This is the very reason why I use LineageOS (as well as getting rid of bloatware).

[–] Prizephitah@feddit.nu 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

As a person that’s been rolled into smartphones via work (iPhone 3Gs) and then never daily driven an Android, but always thought it might be more to my liking, I’m aghast. How can this be accepted? I now understand why large botnets often is comprised of Android devices.

[–] seaQueue@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Zero days aren't the big driver of botnets, there are millions (if not hundreds of millions) of very cheap, very old, android devices out there. If you look at the periodic stats Google releases >50% of devices are running an Android version <= 10. Something like 20% of Android devices (at least according to the stats Google provides) running Android <= 5.

Per earlier this year: https://m.gsmarena.com/android_13_is_now_running_on_12_of_devices_in_the_wild-news-58244.php

I'm assuming these stats don't even cover a huge number of cheap Indian or Chinese devices too, those don't come with Google services at all.

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

People running LineageOS and other AOSP based firmwares should be covered after their ROMs integrate the next month security patch.

We've already had it in LineageOS for a week :) https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/android_external_webp/+/366608/

Proving once again that a handful of contributors in their free time still manages to beat multibillion dollars companies.

[–] UltraLuigi@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, they're monthly. So the next one is in October like OP said.

[–] Maho@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So are we expected to just avoid using any software that loads pictures for a month...or forever in the case of models with no more support?

[–] Sethayy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago

Nah youre supposed to buy a phone and create data like a good consumer.

The rest they really couldn't care less about

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That's dependent on carriers in a fair few cases or phone manufacturers in others. A lot of budget phones don't get timely security patches.