The document discusses differences in how integration features affect the security sandbox on BlackBerry devices. It notes that BlackBerry evaluates every application request to access device capabilities. However, malware boundaries can become unclear as BlackBerry handles technologies like native apps, third-party apps like Android and iOS, each with different controls through sandboxes, permissions, and device/MDM security features. Compliance standards also bring useless recommendations that are less extensive than mobile device management (MDM) features. The document outlines the various capabilities controlled on BlackBerry, Android, and iOS platforms and notes issues like useless solutions, GUI exploitation on older BlackBerry devices, and conclusions regarding oversimplified security controls through general permissions rather than concrete permissions.

1. THE SANDBOX DIFFERENCES OR HOW AN
INTEGRATION FEATURES AFFECT THE SANDBOX
INDEPENDENT SECURITY RESEARCHER / PhD.
YURY CHEMERKIN
AthCon‘2013

2. [ Yury Chemerkin ]
www.linkedin.com/in/yurychemerkin
http://sto-strategy.com
 Experienced in :
 Reverse Engineering & AV
 Software Programming & Documentation
 Mobile Security and MDM
 Cyber Security & Cloud Security
 Compliance & Transparency
 and Security Writing
 Hakin9 Magazine, PenTest Magazine, eForensics Magazine,
 Groteck Business Media
 Participation at conferences
 InfoSecurityRussia, NullCon, CONFidence, PHDays
 CYBERCRIME FORUM, Cyber Intelligence Europe/Intelligence-Sec
 ICITST, CyberTimes, ITA, I-Society
yury.chemerkin@gmail.com

3. BLACKBERRY SECURITY ENVIRONMENT
BLACKBERRY EVALUATESEVERY REQUEST THAT AN APPLICATION MAKES TO ACCESS A CAPABILITY
BLACKBERRY ENTERPRISE SERVICE HELPS MANAGE AND PROTECT BLACKBERRY, IOS, AND ANDROID DEVICES.
UNIFIED COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION SOFTWARE
DESIGNED TO HELP PROTECT DATA THAT IS IN TRANSIT AT ALL POINTS AS WELL IS IN MEMORY AND STORAGE
ENHANCED BY A CONTROL OF THE BEHAVIOR OF THE DEVICE
PROTECTION OF APPLICATION DATA USING SANDBOXING
MANAGEMENT OF PERMISSIONS TO ACCESS CAPABILITIES
BB EVALUATES EVERY REQUEST THAT APP MAKES – BUT LEAD AWAY FROM ANY DETAILS AND APIs

4. KNOWN ISSUES
MALWARE BOUNDSBECOME UNCLEAR…
 BLACKBERRY HANDLES SEVERAL TECHNOLOGIES

NATIVE
 BLACKBERRY 10, BLACKBERY PLAYBOOK
 OLD BLACKBERRY DEVICES
 THIRD PARTY
 ADOBE AIR FOR NEW BB DEVICES
 ANDROID APPLICATIONS & DEVICES
 IOS DEVICES
 EVERY CONTROLLED LIMITED BY



SANDBOX
PERMISSIONS
SECURITY FEATURES ON DEVICEs & MDMs
COMPLIANCE BRINGS USELESS RECOMMENDATIONS
 USER-MODE MALWARE



SPYWARE
ROOTKITS
EXPLOTS & ATTACKS
 REVERSING NETWORK LAYER
 PARTIALLY RECOVERING DATA VS. SANBOX
 MDM vs. COMPLIANCE



A FEW RECOMMENDATIONS
SET IS LESSER THAN SET OF MDM FEATURES
YOUNG STANDARDS
 FIRST REVISIONS
 DRAFT REVISIONS

5. BLACKBERRY CAPABILITES - ANDROID
CONTROLLEDFOUR GROUPSONLY by BlackBerry
 CAMERA AND VIDEO
 HIDE THE DEFAULT CAMERA APPLICATION
 PASSWORD
 DEFINE PASSWORD PROPERTIES
 REQUIRE LETTERS (incl. case)
 REQUIRE NUMBERS
 REQUIRE SPECIAL CHARACTERS
 DELETE DATA AND APPLICATIONS FROM THE
DEVICE AFTER
 INCORRECT PASSWORD ATTEMPTS
 DEVICE PASSWORD
 ENABLE AUTO-LOCK
CONTROLLED 74 OUT 200 APIs ONLY by Android




LIMIT PASSWORD AGE
LIMIT PASSWORD HISTORY
RESTRICT PASSWORD LENGTH
MINIMUM LENGTH FOR THE DEVICE
PASSWORD THAT IS ALLOWED
 ENCRYPTION
 APPLY ENCRYPTION RULES
 ENCRYPT INTERNAL DEVICE STORAGE
 TOUCHDOWN SUPPORT
 MICROSOFT EXCHANGE SYNCHRONIZATION
 EMAIL PROFILES
 ACTIVESYNC

6. BLACKBERRY CAPABILITES - iOS
CONTROLLED16 GROUPS ONLY by BlackBerry


BROWSER


that‘s QUITE SIMLIAR to APPLE MDM SOLUTIONS
DEFAULT APP,
AUTOFILL, COOKIES, JAVASCRIPT, POPUPS
MESSAGING (DEFAULT APP)


BACKUP / DOCUMENT PICTURE / SHARING
ONLINE STORE

CAMERA, VIDEO, VIDEO CONF

CERTIFICATES (UNTRUSTED CERTs)

MESSAGING (DEFAULT APP)

CLOUD SERVICES

PASSWORD (THE SAME WITH ANDROID, NEW BLACKBERRY DEVICES)

PHONE AND MESSAGING (VOICE DIALING)

CONNECTIVITY





OUTPUT, SCREEN CAPTURE, DEFAULT APP
BACKUP / DOCUMENT / PICTURE / SHARING
ONLINE STORES , PURCHASES, PASSWORD
DEFAULT STORE / BOOK / MUSIC APP

PROFILE & CERTs (INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION)
NETWORK, WIRELESS, ROAMING
DATA, VOICE WHEN ROAMING

SOCIAL (DEFAULT APP)
CONTENT (incl. EXPLICIT)
RATING FOR APPS/ MOVIES / TV SHOWS / REGIONS



CONTENT





DIAGNOSTICS AND USAGE (SUBMISSION LOGS)
STORAGE AND BACKUP


SOCIAL APPS / GAMING / ADDING FRIENDS / MULTI-PLAYER
DEFAULT SOCIAL-GAMING / SOCIAL-VIDEO APPS
DEVICE BACKUP AND ENCRYPTION
VOICE ASSISTANT (DEFAULT APP)

7. BLACKBERRY CAPABILITES – BLACKBERRY (QNX)
CONTROLLED7 GROUPS ONLY by BlackBerry

that‘s NOT ENOUGH TO MANAGE ALL APIs




GENERAL


MOBILE HOTSPOT AND TETHERING
PLANS APP, APPWORLD

PASSWORD (THE SAME WITH ANDROID, iOS)

BES MANAGEMENT (SMARTPHONES, TABLETS)

SOFTWARE





OPEN WORK EMAIL MESSAGES LINKS IN THE PERSONAL BROWSER
TRANSFER THOUGH WORK PERIMETER TO SAME/ANOTHER DEVICE
BBM VIDEO ACCESS TO WORK NETWORK
VIDEO CHAT APP USES ORGANIZATION’S WI-FI/VPN NETWORK
SECURITY






CERTIFICATES & CIPHERS & S/MIME
HASH & ENCRYPTION ALGS AND KEY PARAMS
TASK/MEMO/CALENDAR/CONTACT/DAYS SYNC
WI-FI PROFILES



WIPE WORK SPACE WITHOUT NETWORK, RESTRICT DEV. MODE
VOICE CONTROL & DICTATION IN WORK & USER APPS
BACKUP AND RESTORE (WORK) & DESKTOP SOFTWARE
PC ACCESS TO WORK & PERSONAL SPACE (USB, BT)
PERSONAL SPACE DATA ENCRYPTION
EMAIL PROFILES




NETWORK ACCESS CONTROL FOR WORK APPS
PERSONAL APPS ACCESS TO WORK CONTACTS
SHARE WORK DATA DURING BBM VIDEO SCREEN SHARING
WORK DOMAINS, WORK NETWORK USAGE FOR PERSONAL APPS
ACCESS POINT, DEFAULT GATEWAY, DHCP, IPV6, SSID, IP ADDRESS
PROXY PASSWORD/PORT/SERVER/SUBNET MASK
VPN PROFILES



PROXY, SCEP, AUTH PROFILE PARAMS
TOKENS, IKE, IPSEC OTHER PARAMS
PROXY PORTS, USERNAME, OTHER PARAMS

8. BLACKBERRY CAPABILITES – BLACKBERRY (OLD)
INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF GROUPS, UNITS AND PERMISSIONS ARE CONTROLELD BY MDM AND DEVICE




THERE 55 GROUPS CONTROLLED IN ALL
EACH GROUP CONTAINS FROM 10 TO 30 UNITS ARE CONTROLLED TOO
EACH UNIT IS UNDER A LOT OF FLEXIBLE PARAMs INSTEAD OF A WAY ‘DISABLE/ENABLED & HIDE/UNHIDE’
EACH EVENT IS
 CONTROLLED BY CERTAIN PERMISSION
 ALLOWED TO CONTROL BY SIMILAR PERMISSIONS TO BE MORE FLEXIBLE
 DESCRIBED 360 PAGES IN ALL THAT IN FOUR TIME MORE THAN OTHER DOCUMENTS
 EACH UNIT CAN’T CONTROL ACTIVITY UNDER ITSELF
 ‘CREATE, READ, WRITE/SAVE, SEND, DELETE’ ACTIONS IN REGARDS TO MESSAGES LEAD TO SPOOFING
BY REQUESTING A ‘MESSAGE’ PERMISSION ONLY
 SOME PERMISSIONS AREN’T REQUIRED (TO DELETE ANY OTHER APP)
 SOME PERMISSIONS ARE RELATED TO APP, WHICH 3RD PARTY PLUGIN WAS EMBEDDED IN, INSTEAD OF
THAT PLUGIN

9. ISSUES : USELESS SOLUTIONS - I
USERFULL IDEASAT FIRST GLANCE
BUT INSTEADMAKE NO SENSE
 OLD BB: MERGING PERMISSION UNITS AND GROUPS
 ‘SCREEN CAPTURE, CAMERA, VIDEO PERMISSIONS’ SEPARATED (PREVIOUS BB)
 ‘SCREEN CAPTURE, CAMERA, VIDEO PERMISSIONS’ MERGED INTO ONE UNIT (LATEST BB)
 QNX-BB: SCREEN CAPTURE
 IS ALLOWED VIA HARDWARE BUTTONS ONLY
 NO EMULATION OF HARDWARE BUTTONS AS IT WAS IN OLD BLACKBERRY DEVICES
 LOCKS WHEN WORK PERIMITER HAS BECOME TO PREVENT SCREEN-CAPTURE LOGGERS
 OLD BB: NO SANBOX HAS NEVER BEEN ANNOUNCED
 ALL DATA ACCESSIBLE EXCEPT APP & SYSTEM DATA DUE TO GENERAL PERMISSION
 QNX-BB: OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED SANBOX
 MALWARE IS A PERSONAL APPLICATION SUBTYPE IN TERMS OF BLACKBERRY’s SECURITY
 SANDBOX PROTECTS ONLY APP DATA, WHILE USER DATA STORED IN SHARED FOLDERS

10. ISSUES : USELESS SOLUTIONS - II
USERFULL IDEASAT FIRST GLANCE
BUT INSTEADMAKE NO SENSE
 OLD BB: SECURE & INSECURE IM CHATS IN THE SAME TIME
 HAS ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATION SESSIONS
 STORE CHAT COVERSATION IN PLAIN TEXT WITHOUT ENCRYPTION (EVEN BBM)
 INACCESSIBLE FROM THE DEVICE BECAUSE OF UNKNOWN FILE TYPE (.CSV)
 UPGRADE FEATURE AFFECT EVERYTHING


UPDATE APP THAT CALLS THIS API – USE GENERAL API
REMOVE APP THAT CALLS THIS APPS – USE GENERAL API
 REMOVE ANY OTHER APP UNDER THE SAME API WITHOUT NOTIFICATION
 HANDLE WITH PC TOOLS ON OLD BB DEVICES WITHOUT DEBUG / DEVELOPMENT MODE
 OLD BB: CLIPBOARD (HAS NEVER EXISTED ANYWHERE AND MIGHT HAVE EVER)


REVEAL THE DATA IN REAL TIME BY ONE API CALL
NATIVE WALLETS PROTECTS BY RETURNING NJULL
 WHILE THE ON TOP || JUST MINIMIZE OR CLOSE IT TO GET FULL ACCESS
 EVERY USER CASE MUST MINIMIZE APP TO PASTE A PASSWORD

12. ISSUES : USELESS SOLUTIONS – III
THE GUI EXPLOITATION (OLD BB) –NATIVE APPs

INITIALLY BASED ON AUTHORIZED API COVERED


ALL PHYSICAL & NAVIGATION BUTTONS
 TYPING TEXTUAL DATA, AFFECT ALL APPs
SECONDARY BASED ON ADDING THE MENU ITEMS

 INTO THE GLOBAL / “SEND VIA” MENU

AFFECT ALL NATIVE APPLICATIONS
NATIVE APPs ARE DEVELOPED BY BLACKBERRY

 WALLETS, SOCIAL, SETTINGS, IMs,…
GUI EXPLOITATION





REDRAWING THE SCREENS
GRABBING THE TEXT FROM ANY FIELDs (INCL. PASSWORD
FIELD)
ADDING, REMOVING THE FIELD DATA
ORIGINAL DATA IS INACCESSIBLE BUT NOT AFFECTED
ADDING GUI OBJECTS BUT NOT SHUFFLING
3RD PARTY SECURE SOLITUINS RUIN THE SECURITY

KASPERSKY MOBILE SECURITY PROVIDES



FIREWALL, WIPE, BLOCK, INFO FEATURES
NO PROTECTION FROM REMOVING.CODs & UNDER
SIMULATOR
 EXAMING THE TRAFFIC, BEHAVIOUR
 JUST SHOULD CHECK API “IS SIMULATOR” ONLY
SMS MANAGEMENT VIA “QUITE” SECRET SMS

PASSWORD IS 4–16 DIGITS,AND MODIFIED IN REAL-TIME

SMS IS A HALF A HASH VALUE OF GOST R 34.11-94

IMPLEMENTATION USES TEST CRYPTO VALUES AND NO SALT

TABLES (VALUEHASH) ARE EASY BUILT

OUTCOMING SMS CAN BE SPOOFED WITHOUT ANY
NOTIFICATION, BECAUSE KMS DELETE THE SENT MESSAGES

OUTCOMING SMS BLOCK/WIPE THE SAME/ANOTHERDEVICE

16. CONCLUSION - I
PRIVILEGEDGENERAL PERMISSIONS
OWN APPs, NATIVE & 3RD PARTY APPs FEATURES
 DENIAL OF SERVICE
 GENERAL PERMISSIONS
 REPLACING/REMOVING EXEC FILES
 DOS’ing EVENTs, NOISING FIELDS
 GUI INTERCEPT
 INFORMATION DISCLOSURE
 INSTEAD OF SPECIFIC SUB-PERMISSIONS
 A FEW NOTIFICATION/EVENT LOGs FOR USER
 BUILT PER APPLICATION INSTEAD OF APP SCREENs
 CONCRETE PERMISSIONS
 CLIPBOARD, SCREEN CAPTURE
 GUI INTERCEPT
 DUMPING .COD FILES, SHARED FILES
 MITM (INTERCEPTION / SPOOFING)



MESSAGES
GUI INTERCEPT, THIRD PARTY APPs
FAKE WINDOW/CLICKJACKING


BUT COMBINED INTO GENERAL PERMISSION
A SCREENSHOT PERMISSION IS PART OF THE
CAMERA
 GENERAL PERMISSIONS



INSTEAD OF SPECIFIC SUB-PERMISSIONS
A FEW NOTIFICATION/EVENT LOGs FOR USER
BUILT PER APPLICATION INSTEAD OF APP SCREENs

17. CONCLUSION - II
THE VENDOR SECURITY VISION













HAS NOTHING WITH REALITY
AGGRAVATEDBY SIMPLICITY
SIMPLIFICATION AND REDUCING SECURITY CONTROLS
MANY GENERAL PERMISSIONS AND COMBINED INTO EACH OTHER
NO LOGs ACTIVITY FOR SUB-PERMISSIONS TO PROVE THE TRANSPARENCY
ANY SECURITY VULNERABILITY ARE ONLY FIXED BY ENTIRELY NEW AND DIFFERENT OS / KERNEL
A FEW PERMISSIONs ARE CLOSED TO THE USER ACTIONS
THE SANDBOX PROTECT ONLY APPLICATION DATA
USERS HAVE TO STORE THEIR DATA INTO SHARED FOLDERS OR EXTERNAL STORAGE
APPLICATIONS CONTINUE STORE DATA IN PUBLIC FOLDERs BECAUSE GOVERNED BY CHANCE OF AVAILABILITY
MITM / INTERCEPTION ACTIONS ARE OFTEN SILENTLY
THE NATIVE SPOOFING AND INTERCEPTION FEATURES
BLACKBERRY ENTERPRISE SOLUTION / BLACKBERRY MOBILE FUSION IS NOT EFFECTIVE MUCH
THE BEST SECURITY (PERMISSIONS) RULED BY AMAZON WEB SERVICES
PERMISSIONS SHOULD RELY ON THE DIFFERENT USEFUL CASES SET INSTEAD OF SPECIFIC PERMISSION LIST

18. Q&A