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FOUR NEWLY DISCOVERED security flaws have been discovered in Android devices with a Qualcomm chip could allow an attacker to take complete control of an affected device.
The vulnerabilities, called Quadrooter, affects over 900 million smartphones and tablets. An attacker can exploit them by using a malicious app, which doesn’t require any special permissions to take advantage of these vulnerabilities.
That means it can be possible to take over a device without raising any suspicion from the user’s end, say security firm Check Point whose researchers discovered the flaw.
The problem comes from Qualcomm’s software drivers that come with its chipsets, which is incorporated into Android devices when manufacturers are building them. There is no evidence that these flaws have been exploited by anyone yet.
A large number of devices are affected by it including:
Check Point handed over the information to Qualcomm earlier this year. The chip maker is said to have created a fix for the problems, but it’s not clear how many companies have issued software updates with the fix yet.
Part of the reason for the delay is down to fragmentation, an issue among Android devices. While the core software is designed by Google, it must go through the chipmaker and phone manufacturers as well who will make their own changes to the software. Because of this, it can take weeks or months for an update from Google to reach certain phones.
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That’s alright, it’s not going to effect my Nokia 3210 so
I recently dropped my Nokia 3310 on the kitchen floor…the phone was fine…but it smashed a floor tile.
Of course the title makes it sound like it a fault of the Android OS, why isn’t Qualcomm in the title???
Because it’s through the Android OS that the Qualcomm vulnerability is accessible; no OS, no access to the chip.
Worthless info
Samsung s7 and s7 edge are not affected by this in Ireland as it uses the international exynos processor
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