A news report by researchers at Check Point stated that screen hijack apps bug is affecting about 40% of Android users, Google is standing on different fronts and might wait a bit to fix. Oversight regarding Android permissions has been given in the report, declaring all smartphones with Android version 6.0.1 Marshmallow and above running are affected.

40% Android User at Risk of Screen Hijacking Apps

Google stats saying 38.3% users are vulnerable to such hijack. Apps with permission to appear on other app top pane is an issue e.g. Facebook Messenger. The permission relies on explicit grant ‘SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW’ to allow access, was launched in Android 6.0.0. Popular apps users are unaware about activating permission because Google has removed requirement for users totally.

Contrarily, this gave legitimate apps to get relief but other apps do get backdoor as well. “As a temporary solution, Google applied a patch in Android version 6.0.1 that allows the Play Store app to grant run-time permissions, which are later used to grant SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission to apps installed from the app store”,  narrated by Check Point.