A week in security (May 22-28)

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A week in security (May 22-28)
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Last week on Malwarebytes Labs:

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Galaxy S23 FE looks certain to get Exynos 2200 chip globally

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Galaxy S23 FE looks certain to get Exynos 2200 chip globally
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The Galaxy S23 FE may not be coming anytime soon, but the device is still very much in the pipeline. Samsung will probably unveil the new FE phone late in 2023. But if early rumors turn out to be accurate, it may struggle to sell the phone in large volume.

Samsung doesn’t plan to launch a Snapdragon version of the Galaxy S23 FE

Recent rumors have suggested that Samsung will ship the Galaxy S23 FE with its in-house Exynos 2200 processor. Several sources have said the same, and we’ve now got further confirmation from Twitter tipster @Tech_Reve. They claim that the upcoming FE phone “definitely” uses this aging Esynos chipset. Moreover, Samsung doesn’t plan to offer the device in a Snapdragon version. The Exynos 2200 powers it globally.

Samsung used this chipset in last year’s Galaxy S22 series flagships in some markets, including Europe. While that may sound promising, the story is a little different. The Exynos 2200 isn’t the best flagship chip of its generation. It has some major power and performance issues. The problem is with the Korean firm’s foundry tech. Chips manufactured by the company have historically had such issues, and it was no different with the Exynos 2200.

The problems got so big that Samsung hasn’t launched a new flagship chipset since then. It didn’t use Exynos processors in the Galaxy S23 series. Its latest flagship smartphones are powered by a Snapdragon chip globally, and the power and performance gains are obvious. Despite that, the company is now seemingly equipping the Galaxy S23 FE with the Exynos 2200. The plan is to reduce the manufacturing cost by using in-house chipsets, thus keeping a higher profit margin. But the plan may backfire as consumers don’t trust Exynos anymore.

It Samsung’s part, it may be banking on the recent changes in its foundry tech. The company has improved its 4nm and 5nm process nodes. Since the Exynos 2200 is a 4nm chip, it should benefit from those improvements. But it may still be too difficult to convince potential buyers. Strong word of mouth would be critical. Time will tell whether Samsung manages to do that. More importantly, whether the process “improvements” are enough for the Exynos 2200 to deliver a notably better performance and power efficiency.

The rest of the specs are fairly convincing

The processor may put most prospective Galaxy S23 FE buyers off, but the rest of its specs are fairly convincing. We are expecting the same 50MP primary rear camera and 12MP selfie camera found on the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+. The phone may also retain the 12MP ultrawide camera from its pricier siblings but downgrade to an 8MP 3x zoom lens. Other rumored Galaxy S23 FE specs include 6GB/8GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage, and a 4,500mAh battery with support for 25W fast charging.


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ARM launches Cortex-X4, A720 & A520 64-bit only CPUs

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ARM launches Cortex-X4, A720 & A520 64-bit only CPUs
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Along with its 5th Gen mobile GPUs, ARM has also introduced its upgraded CPU cores. The company unveiled Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, and Cortex-A520 v9 CPUs. It also launched a new DynamIQ Shared Unit, the DSU-120. These solutions will make it into the next-gen smartphone processors later this year.

ARM is going 64-bit-only with its latest CPUs

The latest CPU cores from ARM only support 64-bit computing. The company has ditched 32-bit support this year. This has been coming ever since Google mandated Android developers to update their apps with 64-bit binaries in 2019. The Android maker further set the tone for this impending transition last year by launching the Pixel 7 series as the world’s first 64-bit-only phone. ARM has now ensured that the next-gen smartphones will do away with 32-bit computing.

That’s not the only notable change, though. We are in for a major performance boost as well. The Cortex-X4 arrives as the most powerful ARM CPU yet, while simultaneously bringing some power gains as well. The “X” series CPUs are usually power-hungry due to their extremely high peak frequency. Hence chip makers only use one or two of these cores in their solutions, with “A” series CPUs making up the majority of those chips.

The Cortex-X4 offers a 15 percent performance improvement over last year’s Cortex-X3. It is also 40 percent more power efficient. For a similar performance as last year’s CPU, the Cortex-X4’s power consumption will be much lower. An L2 cache size of 2MB also helps improve real-world performance. The new solution is marginally larger, though. ARM says it’s less than ten percent larger in physical size than its predecessor.

Elsewhere, the ARM Cortex-X4 adds two more Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs) for a total of eight. It also features an additional branch unit (three in total), an extra Multiply-Accumulatator unit, and “pipelines floating point and square root operations”. There are many other changes in the back end to bring these performance and power gains. Of course, running the new CPU at its peak speed would draw more power. OEMs will probably throttle the chip for improved power efficiency.

ARM Cortex X4 CPU core gains

Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 bring notable improvements too

The Cortex-A720 is ARM’s latest mid-core that brings a balance of power and performance. The company touts a 20 percent reduction in power consumption at the same performance level as last year’s Cortex-A715. This CPU core is optimized for improved system-level power efficiency, ensuring longer battery life.

The Cortex-A520, on the other hand, is all about efficiency. The low-performance CPU core brings a 22 percent power improvement over the Cortex-A510. It’s built on the same merged-core microarchitecture but still boasts the lowest power per area ARM v9.2 core. It significantly reduces computing power for low-intensity tasks, enabling longer battery life in consumer devices.

Finally, ARM has a new DSU (DynamIQ Shared Unit) that supports up to 14 cores per cluster (up from 12) and 32MB of L3 cache (via XDA). The company has focused on efficiency here as well. Since the DSU facilitates how ARM’s CPU cores interact with each other and share data, these improvements will benefit the entire chipset. All of these latest ARM CPUs should be found in the next-gen smartphone chipsets such as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.


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Contacts gone on your Android phone? Don’t panic! You may need to check this one setting

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Contacts gone on your Android phone? Don’t panic! You may need to check this one setting
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Google has recently rolled out a minor change to its contact syncing process on Android devices that may actually have a substantial outcome. This change, when not dealt with correctly, can actually completely wipe your contacts from your phone although they are still saved in the cloud.
As reported by Android Authority, this change is part of the May 24th update to Google Play Services (v23.20) where the changelog indicates that turning off sync with Google Contacts will now remove all the previously synced entries from your Android Phone. This differs from the previous behavior where the contacts would remain on the phone even when sync was off, just not sync any new ones.
This is significant because there could be instances in which this setting could be potentially turned off and the user could mistakenly think that the contact entries have been lost. In reality, all synced contacts can be viewed from any device or the web by navigating to contacts.google.com and these entries remain unchanged unless you manually delete them.

However, the default setting is for the toggle to sync contacts to be on, and turning it off actually requires some extra steps. This ensures that turning off sync is not something you can just do by accident and requires that you navigate through the device’s Settings > Passwords & accounts menu.

Contacts gone on your Android phone? Don't panic! You may need to check this one setting
The important detail to remember is that should you notice your contacts are missing from your Android phone, the first thing to check is to make sure that contacts sync hasn’t been accidentally turned off. Should you need to immediately access your contacts and cannot wait for a sync to complete, you can also access them via the web.
Meanwhile this new version of Google Play Services also contains bug fixes and new developer features for app developers to support device connectivity features within in their apps. Google Play Services updates normally roll out along with updates to the Android operating system, which in the case of May, rolled out for Android 13 back in the beginning of the month to Pixel and other eligible devices.

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GitLab Released Emergency Fix For Critical Vulnerability

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GitLab Released Emergency Fix For Critical Vulnerability
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GitLab has recently rolled out an emergency update, patching a critical path traversal vulnerability. Users must ensure running the latest patched releases to avoid potential risks.

Path Traversal Vulnerability Riddled Gitlab

According to a recent security bulletin from GitLab, the service has rolled out another major update to the platform. As described, a critical severity vulnerability existed in GitLab that could allow a remote unauthenticated adversary to access files in a public project.

Specifically, the firm described the issue as a path traversal vulnerability allowing arbitrary file read. An attacker may exploit the flaw to “read arbitrary files on the server when an attachment exists in a public project nested within at least five groups.”

GitLab labeled this flaw (CVE-2023-2825) with maximum severity rating, giving it a CVSS score of 10.0. The vulnerability typically affected GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) version 16.0.0. And the firm patched the issue with the release of version 16.0.1 for GitLab CE/EE.

Besides releasing the fix, GitLab credited the security researcher “pwnie” for reporting the bug via their HackerOne bug bounty program.

For now, the service refrained from sharing further details about the vulnerability. Apparently, it’s a wise step given the highly critical nature of the flaw and the potential risks it could cause to GitLab users if exploited in the wild.

GitLab web versions need no further input from the users as the service has already patched the platform. However, for users running GitLab installations, especially version 16.0.0, the firm urged them to update their devices with the patched release at the earliest.

Besides the fix, no workaround exists to mitigate the flaw, except the fact that it requires a particular structure (an attachment in a public project nested within five groups) which may not apply to all projects. Also, the vulnerability does not affect any GitLab CE/EE releases before version 16.0.0.

Nonetheless, it’s still essential for users to update their systems immediately to remain safe from potential exploitation.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


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Motorola Razr 40 paid a visit to Geekbench & 3C websites

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Motorola Razr 40 paid a visit to Geekbench & 3C websites
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The Motorola Razr 40 has surfaced on both Geekbench and 3C websites prior to its launch. Just to be clear, this is the vanilla Razr 40 model, not the ‘Ultra’ variant that has been intensively leaking over the last couple of weeks.

The Motorola Razr 40 surfaced on both Geekbench & 3C websites

In any case, the phone surfaced on Geekbench and 3C websites under the ‘XT2323-3’ model number. The Geekbench listing does confirm that the phone will be fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC.

Truth be said, that’s a bit weird, as the Snapdragon 7 Gen 2 is already out there. It seems like Motorola opted for a first-gen option instead. In any case, the listing also says that the device will include 12GB of RAM.

Android 13 inclusion is also mentioned here. Motorola will add some of its apps and features on top of Android 13, but it should look fairly similar to stock Android overall.

Now, the 3C certification added one detail to the mix, 33W charging. The Motorola Razr 40 will offer 33W wired charging, while no other details were mentioned. Wireless charging almost certainly won’t be on offer.

The Motorola Razr 40 & Razr 40 Ultra will launch on June 1

Now, the Motorola Razr 40 will debut on June 1, globally. That launch date has been confirmed by the company quite recently. The device will launch alongside the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra aka Razr+, which will be considerably more powerful.

The Razr 40 Ultra is tipped to utilize the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, along with 8GB/12GB of RAM and a 3,800mAh battery. That device will also offer 33W wired charging, and a 12-megapixel main camera. A 13-megapixel ultrawide camera was also mentioned.

The Motorola Razr 40 Ultra will have a much larger cover display than its sibling. It will actually have the largest cover display of any clamshell foldable, a 3.5-inch unit.


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Mysterious Samsung Exynos chip with nine CPU cores spotted

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Mysterious Samsung Exynos chip with nine CPU cores spotted
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A mysterious Samsung device with an unreleased Exynos processor recently surfaced in a Geekbench machine learning (ML) benchmark. The device in question bears the model number SM-S9190, suggesting that it’s a flagship smartphone from the Galaxy S line. But the chip powering it has the model ID S5E9935, which has been previously associated with the Exynos 2300 that never saw the light of day. It features an unusual setup with nine CPU cores.

The Exynos 2300 chip was in the works with a nine-core CPU setup

There have been reports last year that Samsung is readying a new flagship Exynos chip with nine CPU cores. The company planned to launch it as the Exynos 2300, but it ended up canceling the chip altogether. However, the same model ID associated with this unreleased chip has now surfaced on Geekbench along with a nine-core CPU setup. It has one prime core operating at 2.60GHz, four mid-cores at 2.59GHz, and four efficiency cores at 1.82GHz.

The CPU frequency is a lot lower than what you’d expect on a flagship processor, or what we’ve heard in rumors (peak frequency of 3.09GHz and base frequency of 2.1GHz). But that isn’t unusual in early benchmark runs. After all, it’s an ML test (the device scored 456, which is quite low too). Meanwhile, we can see that Samsung has paired the CPU with an Xclipse 930 GPU. This GPU doesn’t exist but the Exynos 2200 has the Xclipse 920 GPU.

The Geekbench listing doesn’t tell us anything else, at least not notable. We can see the device boasts 8GB of RAM and runs Android 13. But the identity of the device isn’t revealed. There haven’t been any rumors about an SM-S919*. The Galaxy S23 Ultra bears the model number SM-S918*.

Could this be the Galaxy S23 FE?

Shortly after this Geekbench entry went live, the blogosphere went abuzz with rumors that the mysterious device in question could be the Galaxy S23 FE. Samsung is gearing up to launch a new FE model later this year, equipping it with an Exynos chip globally. But this may not be the phone we are expecting. Here’s why.

For one, the Galaxy S23 FE is rumored to bear the model number SM-S711*. Of course, Samsung could change the model number ahead of launch, or even use a fake one to hide the identity during early test runs. But then, the device we see in this Geekbench listing is running firmware version S919OXXU0AVI1. That’s a build from September 2022. For the uninitiated, the second to last character indicates the month (I=September), while the third to last character indicates the year (V=2022).

It’s unusual for a company to test a new device running a several months old software build. Samsung’s Android 13 update wasn’t official back then. So that’s another red flag. On top of this, rumors have suggested that the Galaxy S23 FE will get Samsung’s Exynos 2200 chip globally. Joining all the dots together, it appears highly unlikely that we are looking at Samsung’s new FE phone here. However, nothing is set in stone as yet, so things may still take a more favorable turn in the coming months.

But as things stand, this mystery of the unreleased Samsung phone seen on Geekbench remains unsolved. Perhaps this might be the right time to remember that it isn’t impossible to spoof Geekbench entries. Any device can be passed through the site as something different. Most of these entries are usually legitimate, but there have been cases of fake Geekbench runs in the past. So bear that in mind and wait for more details about the Galaxy S23 FE and the next-gen flagship Samsung Exynos processor.


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You may soon be able to use a username instead of your phone number on WhatsApp

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You may soon be able to use a username instead of your phone number on WhatsApp
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The days of having to give out your phone number in order to be added as a contact on WhatsApp may soon be over. In the latest beta version of the app, WhatsApp is laying the groundwork on a new feature that may allow you to set a username instead, among other new features
The information comes to us from wabetainfo where it was discovered that the newest version of WhatsApp for those enrolled in the beta program included a username option. This feature is not yet live to users, even those in beta, but in development. The option will be available within the Settings menu under Profile for all platforms.
Currently, users can only change their profile picture and status, so having the ability to also set up a username will definitely make it easier for users to identify one another both in individual and in group chats. Additionally, this opens up the possibility that you may no longer need to reveal your phone number to contacts within WhatsApp, making this a much more secure way to communicate.
Image Source - WABetaInfo - You may soon be able to use a username instead of your phone number on WhatsApp

Image Source – WABetaInfo

Although not as popular in the U.S. as it is in other countries, WhatsApp is widely used in the U.S. to communicate with international users as well as within certain demographics that are already used to using the app rather than the built-in messaging app on their devices. The one caveat to this is that, just as with messaging, your username is your phone number, which you may or may not want to reveal to certain parties. However, with this promising feature, those days may soon be a thing of the past.

In addition to adding usernames, it was discovered in the latest WhatsApp Beta for Android, version 2.23.11.19, that the company is also testing a new feature that allows users to share their screen during voice and video calls. The feature is still in development and is not yet available to all beta users. The screen sharing feature is expected to be available for both one-on-one and group calls.

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$7.5 Million Lost in Latest DeFi Attack

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$7.5 Million Lost in Latest DeFi Attack
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The immediate consequence was that the price of the native token of the Jimbos Protocol, Jimbo (JIMBO), plummeted by 40%.

In the ever-evolving world of decentralized finance (DeFi), security remains a persistent challenge. The latest victim of a protocol hack is Jimbos Protocol, a decentralized liquidity platform operating on the Arbitrum system. The attack resulted in a loss of 4,000 Ether (ETH), valued at around $7.5 million during the incident. 

The attack on Jimbos Protocol exploited a critical vulnerability related to the lack of slippage control on liquidity conversions. While slippage typically refers to price discrepancies during volatile market conditions, this particular vulnerability allowed liquidity to be invested at inconsistent or distorted prices. Attackers took advantage of this loophole by executing reverse swap orders, manipulating the price range to their advantage.

The immediate consequence was that the price of the native token of the Jimbos Protocol, Jimbo (JIMBO), plummeted by 40%. However, despite the hack, the broader cryptocurrency markets remained resilient, indicating investors’ confidence in distinguishing protocol-specific vulnerabilities from wider market instability.

The Jimbos Protocol hack joins a growing list of DeFi protocol breaches, emphasizing the persistent need for enhanced security measures. This incident further highlights the importance of integrating robust slippage-controlled procedures into DeFi protocols to deter price manipulations and protect user funds.

By observing the trend of increasing attacks against DeFi protocols, we can recognize the need of conducting comprehensive security audits and testing before launching new protocols. While Jimbos Protocol aimed to address liquidity and volatile token prices through a novel testing approach, the inadequately developed mechanism left the protocol vulnerable to logical exploits.

In response to the attack, Jimbos Protocol promptly acknowledged the incident and announced a collaboration with law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity professionals. Such collaborative efforts are vital to mitigating the impact of security breaches and recovering stolen funds.

  1. Hackers steal $3.8 million from Defi Protocol DODO
  2. Hacker steals $24M from DeFi protocol Harvest Finance
  3. If Bitcoiners Want Bitcoin To Make It Big, They Need DeFi
  4. We Need Smarter Smart Contracts To Prevent DeFi Hacks
  5. SnatchCrypto hits DeFi, Blockchain Platforms with backdoor

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Galaxy Z Flip 5 & Fold 5 will come in a host of colors

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Galaxy Z Flip 5 & Fold 5 will come in a host of colors
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Samsung may offer the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in a host of colors. Early rumors have named at least eight color variants for the upcoming clamshell foldable. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 may come in at least five colorways. The two foldables are expected to arrive in late July.

Noted industry insider Ross Young, who is also the CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), revealed early last month that Samsung is readying the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in Beige, Gray, Light Green, and Light Pink colors. The Galaxy Z Fold 5, on the other hand, was in development in Beige, Black, and Light Blue colors. Young said that the Korean firm may develop more color variants of the two foldables down the line.

Sure enough, the same source has now confirmed that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is getting Blue, Green, Platinum, and Yellow color options. Likewise, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will come in Blue and Platinum colors as well. As usual, Samsung would give some fancy names to all or some of these colorways. It may also keep a few of those colors exclusive to its online store while offering the others through most of its global retail channel partners.

Samsung may offer the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in Bespoke Edition

If history is any indication, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 should be available in Bespoke Edition as well. It lets buyers choose their preferred color combination for the phone’s external components. They have to select one of the provided color options for the two back plates and the frame. Last year’s mode was available in a total of 75 color combinations, while the Flip 3 before it came in 49 different colorways (Bespoke Edition).

That said, the top half of the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s backside will mostly be a screen. Samsung is fitting the new clamshell foldable with a much bigger cover display than its predecessors. We are talking about a 3.4-inch square-ish display on the outside, with is notably bigger than the 1.9-inch rectangular panel found on the Flip 4 and Flip 3. So things could work a little differently this time around.

Thankfully, we may not have to wait much longer for more details. The new foldables aren’t too far off now. Rumors are that Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5 in late July. The company is planning to hold its next Galaxy Unpacked event on July 26. We should hear more about the new foldables ahead of that, including the total possible color combinations for the Bespoke Edition Galaxy Z Flip 5.


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