As per Google’s in-house security analysts from Project Zero, using an Android smartphone from brands like Samsung, Pixel or Vivo could mean that these are chances that the phones of these users are highly compromised and people with malicious intentions can take control of these devices just by knowing your phone number.
18 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Samsung, Vivo & Pixel smartphones
As per the blog by Project Zero, there are as many as 18 0-day vulnerabilities in the smartphones from Samsung, Vivo and in-house Pixel smartphones and hackers can gain access to them.
These vulnerabilities root to the Samsung-made Exynos chip, and in that too it is precisely the modem that allows hackers to do remote code execution.
In nutshell, with just the phone number, hackers can remotely gain access to select smartphones with Exynos modems at the baseband level.
Due to the Exynos chip, it’s not just the smartphones with Exynos modems, but also the other products which use the same chipset are susceptible to the attack. Other products using the Exynos Auto T5123 chipset are also vulnerable.
Which Smartphones Are Affected?
The Exynos modem vulnerability affects Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 7 series of smartphones. This includes Pixel 6a, Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.
When it comes to Samsung, these are the devices that are affected : Galaxy M33, Galaxy M13, Galaxy M12s, Galaxy A71, Galaxy A53, Galaxy A33, Galaxy A21s, Galaxy A13, Galaxy A12 and GalaxyA04 series of smartphones.
Smartphone by Vivo which are affected include Vivo S16, S15, S6, X70, X60 and Vivo X30 series are also affected by this vulnerability.
While the issue can be fixed with a simple security patch from OEM, by the time users update their smartphones with the latest software, they are advised to disable Wi-Fi calling and Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) to make their smartphones secure.
