An advertising dropper in Google Play

Minimalist · Aug 27, 2019

Recently, the popular CamScanner – Phone PDF creator app caught our attention. According to Google Play, it has been installed more than 100 million times. The developers position it as a solution for scanning and managing digitized documents, but negative user reviews that have been left over the past month have indicated the presence of unwanted features.
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https://securelist.com/dropper-in-google-play/

itman · Aug 27, 2019

Posters on the Eset forum were complaining starting July 31 that Eset was throwing malware alerts on this bugger. Statements along the lines of "100 million downloads from Google Play. It has to be a FP." Not .................!

guest · Aug 27, 2019

Malicious Android app had more than 100 million downloads in Google Play
August 27, 2019
https://www.kaspersky.co.uk/blog/camscanner-malicious-android-app/16598/

The problem is that even such a powerful company as Google can’t thoroughly check millions of apps. Keep in mind that most of the apps are updated regularly, so Google Play moderators’ jobs are never done.

CamScanner was actually a legitimate app, with no malicious intensions whatsoever, for quite some time. It used ads for monetization and even allowed in-app purchases. However, at some point, that changed, and recent versions of the app shipped with an advertising library containing a malicious module.
Some users of the CamScanner app have already spotted suspicious behavior and left reviews on the app’s Google Play page with warnings to avoid the app.

It looks like app developers got rid of the malicious code with the latest update of CamScanner. Keep in mind, though, that versions of the app vary for different devices, and some of them may still contain malicious code.
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What we can learn from this story is that any app — even one from an official store, even one with a good reputation, and even one with millions of positive reviews and a big, loyal user base —can turn into malware overnight.
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guest · Sep 6, 2019

CamScanner, removed from the Play Store due to detection of malware, is now back
September 6, 2019
https://www.neowin.net/news/camscan...store-due-to-detection-of-malware-is-now-back

Now, CamScanner has said on Twitter that it's back with a new version of the app (via Android Authority), and that it has now made its review policy for 3rd-party SDK providers more comprehensive.

The team behind the app has also announced rewards for users that will prove their loyalty by downloading the latest version, though it's not exactly clear what these are as of now. CamScanner also clarified - in response to some users' reservations - that there had been no selling of user data involved, and it was simply a matter of trusting the wrong SDK provider. For now, all advertising SDKs have temporarily been removed.

Others have also reported that Play Store is still showing the "harmful app detected" warning after the app has been installed, though CamScanner insists that this is due to old cookies. In either case, it is advised that you proceed with caution in case you do plan on reinstalling the application. The latest version, 5.12.5, is available for download from the Play Store here.
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An advertising dropper in Google Play

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