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Amazon Patches Kindle Exploit That Let Malicious eBooks Hijack Accounts

A Black Hat demo chained audiobook parsing with an on-screen keyboard flaw to steal session cookies.

Overview

  • Thales researcher Valentino Ricotta showed in London that a crafted ebook or audiobook could take over a Kindle and access the linked Amazon account.
  • Ricotta’s chain began with a memory error in Audible file parsing and escalated via a vulnerability in the on-screen keyboard to gain full device control.
  • The attack worked by extracting Amazon session cookies, enabling account access without a password and potentially exposing stored payment data.
  • Amazon said it identified and fixed the issues, pushed automatic updates to affected devices, and has seen no evidence of real‑world abuse beyond the tests.
  • Researchers warn that sideloaded files from third‑party sites, including via USB, remain a recurring risk, echoing earlier Kindle parsing flaws such as 2020’s KindleDrip.