Attackers can track victims down to their home address.
The security company Nightwatch Cybersecurity says that Android devices are affected by a new vulnerability that allows apps to access location information.
Attackers can track victims down to their home address.
The security company Nightwatch Cybersecurity says that Android devices are affected by a new vulnerability that allows apps to access location information.
Traceable
Nightwatch Security writes that apps may ignore permission requests to access system information, which includes the wifi network name, device MAC address, DNS information, and local IP addresses.
It allows a third party to track users through a malicious app, and it all the way down to the home address without the victim aware of it.
One good news
According to Nightwatch, virtually all Android devices, including those running a customized version like Amazon Fire phones, are affected by this vulnerability. The good news is Android 9 devices are not affected as Google has sealed the hole in this release.
Unfortunately, very few devices have Android 9 today. At the same time, Nightwatch claims that Google has no plans to fix the issue in the affected editions of Android.
Google has so far not commented on the report.