October 31, 2023 at 04:34PM
Czech cybersecurity company Avast has confirmed that its antivirus SDK mistakenly flagged the Google Android app as malware on Huawei, Vivo, and Honor smartphones. Users were warned to uninstall the app as it could secretly send SMS messages, download other apps, and steal sensitive information. Avast has resolved the issue, which affected users outside of China.
– Avast antivirus SDK falsely flagged the Google Quick Search Box app launcher as malware on Huawei, Vivo, and Honor smartphones on October 29.
– Affected users were warned to uninstall the Google app due to potential risks such as sending SMS messages, downloading and installing other apps, or stealing sensitive information.
– A different alert was seen by some users, indicating that the Google app was a trojan that could provide remote access to their device and enable attackers to install malware and steal data.
– The false positive issue was reported on Google’s support forum, Reddit, Huawei’s forum, and other Android communities.
– The security notification was not triggered by Google Play Protect and seems to be from a device that is not Play Protect certified and cannot officially download Google’s core apps from Play.
– Google advises contacting the device manufacturer for further information and states that Google Play is the only app store where users can officially download Google’s core apps for Android.
– Huawei and Vivo have not responded to inquiries about the issue from BleepingComputer.
– Avast confirmed on October 29 that its antivirus SDK mistakenly flagged the Google Quick Search Box as malware on Huawei phones.
– Avast’s SDK is part of Huawei’s Optimizer app, a device management app that includes cleanup and performance features.
– The issue only affected users outside of China and was resolved on October 30.