Android bug allows hackers complete access to your smartphone

900 million Android smartphones vulnerable to a new “Quadrooter” Hack

All versions of Android devices are vulnerable till Google releases a fix

Almost one billion Android devices are affected by a critical vulnerability which can give potential hackers complete access to your Android smartphone’s data and hardware including your smartphone camera.

The vulnerability was discovered by security researchers from Check Point who have dubbed it as Quadrooter. According to Check Point researchers, the Quadrooter flaw is made of four different vulnerabilities and affects all Android smartphones powered by Qualcomm chip. The bigger problem at hand is that almost 900 million Android smartphones and tablets are powered by Qualcomm chips are at risk due to this vulnerability.

According to the researchers, “Quadrooter”, the vulnerabilities allow an attacker to take root access of a device, giving them full access to a phone’s storage and hardware controls. The real grim scenario is that a potential hacker could switch a microphone on and listen in on your conversations, take photos with the device camera and even delete files or clone them for their own malicious use.

Check Point mobile security researcher Adam Donenfeld revealed Quadrooter flaw at the DEF CON security conference The team has handily put together a guide and scanning tool so you can find out whether your device is vulnerable. Some vulnerable devices listed by the company are given below :

  • BlackBerry Priv
  • Blackphone 1 and Blackphone 2
  • Google Nexus 5X, Nexus 6 and Nexus 6P
  • HTC One, HTC M9 and HTC 10
  • LG G4, LG G5, and LG V10
  • New Moto X by Motorola
  • OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 and OnePlus 3
  • Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
  • Sony Xperia Z Ultra
For the attack to work, the potential hacker has to convince the Android smartphone owner to install a specially crafted malware.  However, this can be easily done through social engineering and phishing emails.
Qualcomm claims that it’s issued patches for all four of its chips’ vulnerabilities. In fact, Google has confirmed that three of the four flaws were fixed in the latest set of security updates, with the fourth vulnerability due to be patched in September.
You can read the full report from Check Point here.

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