Palm Pre snooping fears over ‘unpatched’ vCard flaw

Updated British security researchers are claiming that an unpatched flaw in the Palm Pre operating system could allow malicious hackers to bug calls and spy on users without their knowledge.

According to media reports, penetration experts at MWR InfoSecurity were able to construct a malicious vCard that could be sent to the victim’s Palm Pre via SMS text message, Bluetooth, or by tricking the user into visiting a web link.

MWR InfoSecurity claims that if the Palm Pre owner views the boobytrapped vCard, a backdoor can be opened on the their smartphone, and calls and data can be recorded and transmitted to remote hackers.

The researchers claim that they reported the serious security vulnerability to Palm in May, but that no action has yet been taken to protect users.

Update MWR’s claims…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.