element-hq / element-hq/element-x-android

Enable MTE

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#6,812 0 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
T-Enhancement
Dominant language
Kotlin
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Description

### Your use case

#### What would you like to do?
Enable [MTE](https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/arm-mte) for Element X Android.
#### Why would you like to do it?
[MTE](https://developer.arm.com/documentation/108035/0100/Introduction-to-the-Memory-Tagging-Extension) is a hardware protection against memory safety issues that's available in the latest Pixel phones, with more Android phones soon to [support](https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/arm-mte#hwsupport) it.

Element X is a messenger that people trust their most sensitive data with. The attack surface of this app is also quite high since it handles arbitrary media files and text, an attack vector that is rife with [exploits](https://cyberpress.org/whatsapp-zero-day-vulnerability/).
#### How would you like to achieve it?
Enable `android:memtagMode="sync"` in the manifest.

### Have you considered any alternatives?

There's no alternatives, this is a built-in hardware feature on some phones that can protect users.

### Additional context

_No response_

### Are you willing to provide a PR?

No

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