Nothing — the UK startup led by OnePlus Co-Founder Cal Pei — recently rolled out a partial fix for a security vulnerability that affected the companion app for the CMF Watch Pro, according to a report. The encryption-related flaw was capable of exposing email addresses and passwords used to sign up for an account. The issues have come to light weeks after Nothing’s iMessage-on-Android app was shut down amid allegations that the service did not encrypt messages and media as advertised by Nothing and its partner Sunbird.
9to5Google contributor Dylan Roussel, in a recent a thread on X (formerly Twitter), explained that the CMF Watch app was encrypting both the email address and password provided by users when signing up for an account — while allowing decryption of both the email and password with the same keys. The publication reports that the means to decrypt user information was also found in the Android app, which allowed anyone to view those details.
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> But the encryption method used also allowed anyone to decrypt the email and password with the exact same keys. > > — Dylan Roussel (@evowizz) December 1, 2023
Back in September, Roussel had pointed out that the CMF Watch app was developed by Chinese firm Jingxun, and references to the firm were visible in the app. At the time, he pointed out that the company’s website also lists OnePlus as one of its partners, alongside Sony, Philips, and Toshiba.
Months after the vulnerabilities were reported, CMF by Nothing told the publication that it is working to fix the security flaws pointed out by Roussel — the encryption method for a user’s password has reportedly been resolved, while the email address is still impacted by the flaw. The company told 9to5Google that an OTA update will be rolled out to CMF Watch Pro users to resolve outstanding issues.
According to the 9to5Google report, the company recently opened up different points of contact for vulnerabilities with both Nothing and CMF by Nothing products — these weren’t available back in September when the flaws were being reported.
It is worth noting that Nothing was recently entangled in a privacy controversy when the company released its Nothing Chats app in beta, promising Nothing Phone 2 users access to Apple’s proprietary iMessage service. After several issues with the privacy and security of the service were raised online — including handling of unencrypted messages and media by Nothing’s partner Sunbird — the company pulled its app from the Play Store, while Sunbird also informed users it was pausing access to its own service.
