Reimaging Terracube 2E

[Larry_Lee]

Hi, my phone was hacked and I suspect that malware has been installed. I tried scanning and removing all suspicious programs and stopping all services that I did not recognize. Unfortunately, this did not appear to solve the problem. Even when I turned my phone off, it automatically turned back on after a few minutes. Whoever hacked my phone was using it to create a number of fake accounts online and was intercepting SMS authentication requests (I could see the SMS requests and was able to confirm that accounts had been created after them).

I would like to completely reimage my terracube. Ideally this would involve deleting all software on the device and resetting it to its original factory condition. How can I do this?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks,

[Saijin_Naib]

You’d want to follow this process for SPFlash, or the linked Easy process:

[Advanced] Installing factory Android image w/ SP Flash

Update: There is a new process for Teracube 2e phones that is far easier and more automated. Check it out. ** Caution **: Only use “Download” mode. Never erase or wipe memory using SP Flash. Please get the latest version of SPFlash from below (we have updated it recently). Warning This is for advanced users only. Can lead to corruption of your storage which might not be fixable locally and may require a paid replacement of your phone. You have been warned. There are a few situat…

[Sharad]

I’ll suggest the easy automated process.

[Teracube 2e] Instructions to Install Factory Software and to Reset

Caution: This will factory reset your phone and wipe data. Please backup before proceeding The following steps will allow users to install factory software on Teracube 2e. Works for both batches - Zirconia (2020) and Emerald (2021). This is an easier and more automated process as compared to the manual SP Flash process. It will do the following: Install factory software Reset the phone Remove any old pins and security Requirements Windows 10/11 computer. Teracube 2e phone (will not wo…

[vedicaudio]

I had the exact same thing happen to me recently. Although the Lookout security app didn’t detect anything, I concluded the phone itself was hacked after getting a new SIM card from AT&T did nothing to stop the SMS interceptions, and then getting a 2nd new SIM card from AT&T but putting it in dirctly into a different phone immediately stopped the problem.

This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this, and it has made me really scrutinize security settings thoroughly. I’ve taken note that my older Teracube has the Android security patch from 11/5/2020, and even the newer Teracube has a security patch from 10/5/2021. Those are very outdated. There doesn’t seem to be anyway to install the latest security patches from Google.

Do we know if this ability to hack the phone and redirect SMS authentication requests is a vulnerability with the Teracube specifically, or is it a known vulnerability in Android that has been fixed in a security patch that we cannot install on our Teracubes?

Am I missing something as far as the security patches? Is there a way to manually install them? I’d like to know what the company’s recommendation is on keeping the phone secure from such intrusions.

[Sharad]

Hi @vedicaudio - at this time the only way to get newer security updates is to install our Android 13 build.

[vedicaudio]

This question was never answered 2 years ago, perhaps because you guys didn’t know the answer at the time. I will ask it again:

Do we know if this ability to hack the phone and redirect SMS authentication requests is a vulnerability with the Teracube specifically, or is it a known vulnerability in Android that has been fixed in a security patch that we cannot install on our Teracubes?

My 4 year warranty is expiring in June and I would like to be able to replace my damaged original under warranty, but I can’t accept a compromised phone.

[Maymne]

There are a variety of different possible vulnerabilities with Android, both with our Teracube devices and those from other manufacturers. Regarding which one might be affecting a specific device, that depends on the specific vulnerability being employed.
For people who have compromised Android 11 Teracube devices, they have reported good results after updating to Android 13, which is still getting official Android security updates.