Huawei’s new flagship phone, Mate 30 has lost its backdoor access to Google Applications. The backdoor was a sidestep to the United States’ ban on Huawei’s products.
Mate 30 loses Backdoor Access!
A security researcher named John Wu explained the method of how Mate 30 users were manually installing applications like Google Maps, Gmail. The method used by them involved the use of LZPlay, which no longer works.
LZPlay used an undocumented “backdoor” in Huawei’s mobile device management software to install Google software, a security researcher wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
The Mate 30 devices are Huawei’s latest flagship phones that are shipped without full Android support. They’re based on Android open source, which means they don’t have Google services (like Play Store) or apps (like Chrome or Maps). The Owners of Mate 30 have to use Huawei made applications that are similar to the ones by Google.
“Although this ‘backdoor’ requires user interaction to be enabled, the installer app, which is signed with a special certificate from Huawei, was granted privileges nowhere to be found on standard Android systems,” as stated in the blog by John Wu.
A Huawei spokeswoman denied any relationship with LZPlay.“Huawei’s latest Mate 30 series is not pre-installed with GMS, and Huawei has had no involvement with LZPlay,” she said.
A search of internet registration records showed that the LZPlay website was registered in July.
Huawei had got it’s Android License revoked by Alphabet, Google’s parent company after an executive order banning it from US communication networks due to national security concerns over alleged ties to the Chinese government.
Google has not released any sort of statement as of now.