CVE-2026-49187: APK Resource Information Disclosure Flaw

CVE-2026-49187 Overview

CVE-2026-49187 is an information disclosure vulnerability caused by hard-coded APK resource files that never expire. The shared credential material — described as a "shared scepter" — can be reused by unauthorized parties to access protected resources. The flaw is categorized under [CWE-200] Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor. Because the embedded secret has no expiration, any party that extracts it from the Android Package (APK) retains long-term access. The vulnerability is exploitable over the network with no privileges or user interaction required.

Critical Impact

A network-based attacker can extract hard-coded credentials from the APK and reuse them indefinitely, exposing sensitive information without authentication or user interaction.

Affected Products

• Acer mobile application (see Acer Knowledge Base Article)
• APK distributions containing the hard-coded resource files
• Backend services trusting the static embedded credential

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-06-04 - CVE-2026-49187 published to NVD
• 2026-06-04 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-49187

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability stems from hard-coded credential material embedded directly within APK resource files. Because the secret is shipped inside the application package, anyone with the APK file can extract it through static analysis. The credential acts as a shared authentication token — a "scepter" — granting access to protected backend functionality.

The attack does not require code execution on a user device. An attacker decompiles the APK, locates the resource file containing the credential, and replays it against the backend service. Since the embedded value has no expiration mechanism and is shared across all installations, rotation is impossible without shipping a new client build. Information accessible through the shared credential is exposed in confidentiality but does not affect integrity or availability of the backend.

Root Cause

The root cause is the embedding of long-lived secret material into client-side resource files [CWE-200]. Mobile clients cannot safely store shared secrets because the application binary is distributed to untrusted end users. The absence of an expiration or rotation mechanism compounds the issue, ensuring that disclosure is permanent for the lifetime of the credential.

Attack Vector

Exploitation proceeds in three steps. First, an attacker obtains the APK from a device or public distribution channel. Second, the attacker uses standard reverse engineering tools such as apktool or jadx to inspect resource files and extract the hard-coded value. Third, the attacker issues requests directly to the backend API using the extracted credential, bypassing any client-side controls and harvesting protected data.

No verified proof-of-concept code is publicly available. Refer to the Acer Knowledge Base Article for vendor-specific technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-49187

Indicators of Compromise

• Requests to backend APIs from IP addresses that do not match legitimate mobile carrier or consumer ranges
• High volumes of requests using identical client identifiers or static authorization headers extracted from APK resources
• API access from automated user agents such as curl, python-requests, or custom HTTP clients rather than the official application

Detection Strategies

• Inventory APK resource files for embedded secrets using static analysis tooling and credential scanners
• Correlate backend access logs against expected mobile client telemetry to identify replay using the static credential
• Establish baselines for normal client request patterns and flag deviations in geography, frequency, or endpoint usage

Monitoring Recommendations

• Log every authentication event using the affected credential and alert on anomalous source diversity
• Monitor public code-sharing platforms for leaked APK extractions referencing the hard-coded value
• Track API endpoints accessible via the shared credential for unusual data volume egress

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-49187

Immediate Actions Required

• Revoke and rotate the hard-coded credential on the backend, breaking access for any extracted copies
• Deploy a client update that retrieves short-lived per-user tokens instead of relying on a shared static secret
• Restrict backend endpoints accessible via the legacy credential to read-only or non-sensitive operations until clients are updated

Patch Information

Consult the Acer Knowledge Base Article for the official vendor advisory and update guidance. No fixed version information was published in NVD at the time of this article.

Workarounds

• Enforce server-side rate limiting and anomaly detection on endpoints authenticated by the static credential
• Require additional authentication factors such as per-device attestation or signed nonces before serving sensitive data
• Geofence or IP-restrict backend access where the legitimate user population is known

# Example: scan an APK for embedded secrets before release
apktool d application.apk -o extracted/
grep -rEn "(api[_-]?key|secret|token|bearer)" extracted/res/ extracted/assets/