HTC announced a fix for a vulnerability that lets hackers view and access Wi-Fi security information on nine of its Android phones. The fix is available via an automatic software upgrade, though some users will have to update manually.

Smartphone manufacturer HTC admitted that several of its Android phones have a security flaw that allows either hackers or an application view and access Wi-Fi security information. The affected phones include the Desire HD, the Glacier, the Droid Incredible, the Thunderbolt, the Sensation, the Sensation 4G (pictured at right), the Desire S, the Evo 3D and the Evo 4G (pictured below left).

This week, the company posted a message on the Help page of its website to inform affected users and announce a fix, although the company says it has known about the issue since September 2011. HTC has been working with Chris Hessing, a senior engineer with Cloudpath Networks, and Bret Jordan, a senior security architect with Open1X Group, to provide a fix for the security flaw, which was labeled "critical" in a Feb. 1 blog post from Jordan.

"Certain HTC builds of Android can expose the user's 802.1X Wi-Fi credentials to any program with basic Wi-Fi permissions," writes Jordan. "When this is paired with the Internet access permissions, which most applications have, an application could easily send all stored Wi-Fi network credentials (user names, passwords, and SSID [Service Set Identifier] information) to a remote server. This exploit exposes enterprise-privileged credentials in a manner that allows targeted exploitation."

HTC's Help page advised users of the issue, which can be resolved through an automatic software upgrade. Some users will have to upgrade manually, however. According to HTC, Google has done a code scan of every application currently in the Android Market, and there are no applications currently exploiting this vulnerability.

"HTC has developed a fix for a small Wi-Fi issue affecting some HTC phones. Most phones have received this fix already through regular updates and upgrades," read the HTC statement. "However, some phones will need to have the fix manually loaded. Please check back next week for more information about this fix and a manual download if you need to update your phone."

Survey cites users' mobile security concerns

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a nonprofit public-private partnership focused on cyber-security awareness, recently released the results of a survey of consumer attitudes and behaviors toward mobile privacy and security. When it comes to specific security threats, every potential threat evoked concern, but 78 percent of smartphone users are particularly concerned about their lost or stolen phone falling into the wrong hands and its contents being misused.

Users were most concerned about losing their password data (67 percent). Most also said they would be willing to add security to protect banking data and other financial information on their phones.

Mobile threats exploded in 2011, according to an October report from IBM. Of the 24 mobile operating system vulnerabilities seen in the first half of 2011, at least half involved easy-to-exploit security holes that allowed attackers to launch arbitrary code execution attacks on the target device. Almost all the flaws involved client software remote-code-execution vulnerabilities that exposed users to drive-by-download attacks from malicious websites, the report found.

Nathan Eddy is a writer for eWEEK.

This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.