According to Riley Hassell, the found of Privateer Labs, the malware affects a popular component of the Android operating system. The firm will be revealing its findings at the Hack-in-the-Box security event in Malaysia later this month.
Hassall is quoted on the ZDNet Asia newswire as saying that the malware can manipulate the component to disable installed anti-virus software, even to the extent of corrupting the AV software to become another malicious app.
Reporting on the discovery, Elinor Mills on the CNet US newswire says that Privateer's co-founder Shane Macaulay uncovered the vulnerabilities, but had not found any attacks exploiting them in the wild.
The good news, Infosecurity notes, is that Privateer is not revealing the precise mechanics of its findings just yet, but is instead working with Android IT security vendors to develop a workaround solution.