Collected research

Identity Confusion in WebView-based Mobile App-in-app Ecosystems

Lei Zhang, Zhibo Zhang, Ancong Liu, Yinzhi Cao, Xiaohan Zhang, Yanjun Chen, Yuan Zhang, Guangliang Yang and Min Yang · usenix.org

Super-apps that host third-party sub-apps in a WebView decide access to privileged native APIs from three identity types: web domain, sub-app ID, and capability. The checks are routinely too broad, so a sub-app or a page it loads inherits privileges never granted to it; across 47 super-apps this allowed manipulating financial accounts and installing malware.

Record

Researcher

Lei Zhang, Zhibo Zhang, Ancong Liu, Yinzhi Cao, Xiaohan Zhang, Yanjun Chen, Yuan Zhang, Guangliang Yang and Min Yang

Published by

usenix.org

Topic

Other

In the archive

• Collected in the 2022 research round

Related sources

• USENIX Security '22 - Identity Confusion in WebView-based Mobile App-in-app Ecosystems

Tags

• privilege-escalation
• auth-bypass
• sop-bypass
• android
• ios
• javascript
• measurement-study
• large-scale-scan
• owasp-a01-2021

This page is the archive's own catalogue record. The research is the work of Lei Zhang, Zhibo Zhang, Ancong Liu, Yinzhi Cao, Xiaohan Zhang, Yanjun Chen, Yuan Zhang, Guangliang Yang and Min Yang, first published at the original source. Preserved copies are kept so the citation survives its host; this one was last captured on 19 August 2026.