Bitdefender finds preinstalled Android malware you can’t uninstall, seen in 150 countries

Bitdefender uncovered "Midnight Mimosa", a preinstalled Android malware family embedded in firmware of cheap MediaTek phones that cannot be removed by typical users. The malicious system component gains system-level privileges to enable Accessibility/Notification/SMS access, silently install/remove cover apps, perform tunable ad and click fraud via overlays and synthetic clicks, and install a TCP proxy payload to turn devices into residential-proxy relay nodes for botnets; the operation has been observed on thousands of devices across 150+ countries and appears financially motivated.