Both Huawei, Samsung and Pixel phones are on the list.
Both Huawei, Samsung and Pixel phones are on the list.
Google researchers have discovered a serious vulnerability in Android. Several models from some of the world's largest mobile manufacturers are affected.
Closed the hole in 2017, but…
The vulnerability is a so-called zero day type that has already been exploited by hackers, according to Google.
The researchers published the security hole just seven days after it was discovered.
According to Google, Android 8.x and newer contains the gap. Oddly, the same hole was sealed in December 2017, but the bug fix was not continued in recent Android editions.
Exploited by Israeli company
Google's Threat Analysis Group believes that the hole has already been exploited in hacker attacks conducted by Israel's NSO Group.
The company claims that hackers need to install malicious software to exploit the hole, which is in the Android kernel code. However, if done, hackers can gain root access on the device and potentially take it over.
According to the researchers, these phones are vulnerable to attack:
“We have notified Android partners and a patch is now available on Android Common Kernel. Pixel 3 and 3a devices are not vulnerable, while Pixel 1 and 2 devices will receive updates for this issue as part of the October update", the Android team said in a blog post.