Saturday, May 31, 2025
Homecyber securityThe U.S. Government Funded Smartphones Comes Pre-installed With Unremovable Malware

The U.S. Government Funded Smartphones Comes Pre-installed With Unremovable Malware

Published on

SIEM as a Service

Follow Us on Google News

Security researchers from Malwarebytes found pre-installed malware on UMX U683CL handsets. The phones are made under the Lifeline program to low-income consumers for Affordable Communications.

Multiple users reported to Malwarebytes that HiddenAds suddenly get installed on their UMX mobile phone, so the company purchased a UMX U683CL for further analysis.

Malware Comes Pre-Installed

The UMX U683CL phones offered by Assurance Wireless and it cost only $35 under the government-funded program.

- Advertisement - Google News

Once the user logs into the device a questionable app named Wireless Update, starts auto-installing apps without user consent. It doesn’t notify users or request any permission to install apps, it just installs the apps on its own.

A malicious app detected as Android/PUP.Riskware.Autoins.Fota.fbcvd get’s installed during the update process. The Agent is heavily obfuscated and it is a vital part of the system. It is a variant of Adups malware.

UMX mobile

It is a malicious firmware that comes preinstalled on the devices and it has system-level rights, Malwarebytes able to confirm the firmware presence on the phones.

“It’s with great frustration that I must write about another unremovable pre-installed app found on the UMX U683CL phone: the mobile device’s own Settings app functions as a heavily-obfuscated malware we detect as Android/Trojan.Dropper.Agent.UMX.”

“The more discernible variant of this malware uses Chinese characters for variable names. Therefore, we can assume the origin of this malware is China.”

The Trojan agent downloads another piece of the malware known as HiddenAds. The malware strains display aggressive ads and it is hard for an end-user to find which app displaying the ads.

Malwarebytes informed Assurance Wireless about their findings of the devices with pre-installed, but Assurance Wireless didn’t respond.

To note the UMX mobile device is made by a Chinese company, it’s unclear who installed the malware as several companies involved in the device supply chain between device manufacturer to the buyer.

UMX mobile

There is no current solution, uninstalling the wireless Update may lead to missing out critical OS updates.

Gurubaran
Gurubaran
Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.

Latest articles

Attackers Exploit Microsoft Entra Billing Roles to Escalate Privileges in Organizational Environments

A startling discovery by BeyondTrust researchers has unveiled a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Entra...

Threat Actors Exploit Google Apps Script to Host Phishing Sites

The Cofense Phishing Defense Center has uncovered a highly strategic phishing campaign that leverages...

Dadsec Hacker Group Uses Tycoon2FA Infrastructure to Steal Office365 Credentials

Cybersecurity researchers from Trustwave’s Threat Intelligence Team have uncovered a large-scale phishing campaign orchestrated...

Beware: Weaponized AI Tool Installers Infect Devices with Ransomware

Cisco Talos has uncovered a series of malicious threats masquerading as legitimate AI tool...

Resilience at Scale

Why Application Security is Non-Negotiable

The resilience of your digital infrastructure directly impacts your ability to scale. And yet, application security remains a critical weak link for most organizations.

Application Security is no longer just a defensive play—it’s the cornerstone of cyber resilience and sustainable growth. In this webinar, Karthik Krishnamoorthy (CTO of Indusface) and Phani Deepak Akella (VP of Marketing – Indusface), will share how AI-powered application security can help organizations build resilience by

Discussion points


Protecting at internet scale using AI and behavioral-based DDoS & bot mitigation.
Autonomously discovering external assets and remediating vulnerabilities within 72 hours, enabling secure, confident scaling.
Ensuring 100% application availability through platforms architected for failure resilience.
Eliminating silos with real-time correlation between attack surface and active threats for rapid, accurate mitigation

More like this

Attackers Exploit Microsoft Entra Billing Roles to Escalate Privileges in Organizational Environments

A startling discovery by BeyondTrust researchers has unveiled a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Entra...

Threat Actors Exploit Google Apps Script to Host Phishing Sites

The Cofense Phishing Defense Center has uncovered a highly strategic phishing campaign that leverages...

Dadsec Hacker Group Uses Tycoon2FA Infrastructure to Steal Office365 Credentials

Cybersecurity researchers from Trustwave’s Threat Intelligence Team have uncovered a large-scale phishing campaign orchestrated...