According to a research team from Check Point, an Israeli security company, they have discovered four new security flaws found in Android powered smartphones and tablet devices that sport a certain Qualcomm processor. And those flaws could let hackers gain full control of that Android handset.
The four security flaws have been collectively named as Quadrooter flaws, and it is said that they affect more than 900 million Android smartphones and tablets around the world today. Through the flaws, an attacker could hoodwink users into downloading a harmful mobile app which will not come with any set of specific permissions. Once the attacker has gained unauthorized entry into the device, he could acquire root access, which means that he will have full access into the handset’s information, software, and even hardware, including the microphone and camera.
So which Android powered mobile devices are affected exactly? Google’s own Nexus handsets, such as the Nexus 5X (made by LG), the Nexus 6 (by Motorola), and the Nexus 6P (made by Huawei), count among those vulnerable. Also in harm’s way are Samsung’s current flagship devices, the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. Even BlackBerry’s newly introduced DTEK50 is potentially exposed, despite the Canadian phone maker’s claims that the device is the most secure Android device out in the market.
Obviously, the priority now is to roll out a fix for these Quadrooter flaws. However, a spokesperson for Google has revealed that a patch may not be made available until next month. For more information about the Quadrooter flaws, you can go visit Check Point’s blog post.
This year alone, Check Point has detected other forms of malware infecting Android devices across the globe. A little over a month ago, the Israel based company said that a malware called HummingBad was infecting more than 10 million Android powered handsets worldwide. The HummingBad malware is believed to be made by a team of developers at Yingmob, and was first discovered in February early this year.
And then last May, Check Point reported a malware called Viking Horde was starting to infect Android smartphones and tablets. What the Viking Horde malware does is turn absorb infected devices into a botnet, a network of handsets that hackers can gain access into, without the permission and knowledge of the handsets’ owners. Hackers can use these devices for advertising fraud, spam distribution, and Distributed Denial of Service attacks, which overloads website servers with loads of useless data requests.
