Hackers can take control of millions of users data worldwide via computers, Smartphones, tablets or Smart TVs by manipulating subtitle text files an online security company claims.
Check Point researchers revealed that hackers are crafting malicious subtitle files, which are then downloaded by a user's media player, allowing attackers to take complete control over any type of device via vulnerabilities found in many popular streaming platforms, including Kodi, VLC Player and Popcorn-Time.
Check Point Vulnerability Research estimate there are approximately 200 million video players and streamers that currently run the vulnerable software - making this one of the most widespread and easily accessed vulnerability reported in recent years.
Subtitle files for movies and televisions can be created by a range of writers and uploaded to online repositories, such as the popular OpenSubtitles.org.
These files usually contain some HTML or Java code, meaning that the subtitle texts are displayed on-screen in certain ways.
However, this code can be used to conceal malicious commands that enable hackers to take complete control of the device running the media player.
Check Point shared a video on YouTube explaining how the hackers can compromise your device.
The potential damage the attacker can inflict is endless, ranging anywhere from stealing sensitive personal and financial information, installing ransomware, mass Denial of Service attacks, and much more.
Check Point have reason to believe similar vulnerabilities exist in other media players too. They reported all vulnerabilities and exploits to the developers of the vulnerable media players and discovered that some of the issues were already fixed, while others are still under investigation.
If you use Kodi, VLC Player or Popcorn Time to stream media content, it is strongly advised that you upgrade to the latest version.
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