Re:Google has another secret browser accessible by a link
by ignoramous on Friday February 02, 2024 @08:24AM
(#39228241)
> Does it have root?
Not really, but it is a privileged System app, which pretty much means it can do a factory load of things that installed apps cannot without root.
Re:Google has another secret browser accessible by a link
by Xeamek on Friday February 02, 2024 @08:45AM
(#39228446)
Systems (or vendor) apps also have to predefine permissions in their manifest, so not every system app can do everything.
But the list of permissions accessible by those apps is so broad they can effectively have root, as long as you define enough of them as developer
Re:Google has another secret browser accessible by a link
by matan-h on Friday February 02, 2024 @08:34AM
(#39228349)
yes. (It's not really the 'root' user, but it trusts blindly and can do things such as installing apps without user confirmation.). In my other blog post about gms, the JS bridges would be running in the privileged scope.
You agreed to this in Google's privacy policy when installing Android.
Re:Google has another secret browser accessible by a link
by ranger_danger on Friday February 02, 2024 @09:42AM
(#39229057)
this is called a back door, not to mention it can already install (and uninstall!) apps without your permission. and yes they have already gotten in trouble for it in the past, but not enough happened to them.
Re:Google has another secret browser accessible by a link
by sureglymop on Friday February 02, 2024 @04:18PM
(#39234547)
Luckily it can be installed sandboxed and not privileged. (E.g. with GrapheneOS).
[1]https://developers.google.com/android/guides/permissions