Android is an open operating system, and an open OS is vulnerable to a lot of attacks. There have been malware attacks and security bugs that have plagued the Android world and the newest one to join the army is QuadRooter.
Unlike malwares, QuadRooter is an bug that exists in smartphones running on Android and housing Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. The vulnerable chipsets pose a threat to 900 million Android devices at the moment, and some of the most popular, ‘secure’ and expensive smartphones out there.
The bug gives full access to the hacker without the need of user permission, allowing the hacker to do anything with the user’s data. The good thing is that no incidence of attack has been posted on any Android device. This bug was first notified to Qualcomm in April 2016, since then it has distributed security patches to all OEMs.
On this topic, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said, “Consumers may be left unprotected, for long periods of time or even indefinitely, by any delays in patching vulnerabilities once they are discovered. There are significant delays in delivering patches to actual devices — and older devices may never be patched.”
Google regularly released security patches every month for its Nexus devices and other smartphone manufacturers, which should take care of these bugs. Qualcomm has provided the patches for three out of the four flaws, and has developed the code for the fourth which it plans to provide to all manufacturers.
Some of the phones that could be affected are –
- BlackBerry Priv
- Blackphone 1 and 2
- Google Nexus 5X, 6 and 6P
- HTC One M9 and HTC 10
- LG G4, G5, and V10
- New Moto X by Motorola
- OnePlus One, 2 and 3
- Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge
- Sony Xperia Z Ultra
In fact, the upcoming smartphone BlackBerry DTEK 50, which is also called the most secure Android phone, will also be vulnerable to this bug. Unfortunately, the smartphone manufacturers might take some time to release these patches, so a few phones could be affected by this issue. There is also no security application that can catch this bug in your smartphone.
Just as a precaution, make sure you have upgraded to the latest version of Android and are not indulging in rooting your smartphone right now. FCC and other regulators have reached out to smartphone manufacturers to pursue them to release updates soon. Considering hackers already know about this bug, they can easily manipulate your smartphone and steal data.
