Washington: Serious security flaws have been found in millions of Android devices which could give attackers a complete access to a phone's data, the BBC reported. The bugs were uncovered by Checkpoint researchers looking at software running on chipsets made by US firm Qualcomm. Qualcomm processors are found in about 900 million Android phones, the company said. However, there is no evidence of the vulnerabilities currently being used in attacks by cyberthieves.
“I’m pretty sure you will see these vulnerabilities being used in the next three to four months," Michael Shaulov, head of mobility product management at Checkpoint, told BBC. “It’s always a race as to who finds the bug first, whether it’s the good guys or the bad.” The flaws were found in software that handles graphics and in code that controls communication between different processes running inside a phone. Exploiting the bugs would allow an attacker to gradually be able to take more control over a device and gain access to its data, the BBC report said. Any of the estimated 900 million Android devices using Qualcomm chips could be vulnerable to attacks until they are patched. Checkpoint handed information about the bugs and proof of concept code to Qualcomm earlier this year. In response, Qualcomm is believed to have created patches for the bugs and started to use the fixed versions in its factories.
The bugs, affecting Android devices using Qualcomm chipsets, could allow seemingly innocuous apps to take control of a device and access any data held on it, according to Check Point. “Such an app would require no special permissions to take advantage of these vulnerabilities, alleviating any suspicion users may have when installing,” Check Point stated. The users would not even realise a breach has taken place.
