You can’t do that with cell phones anymore

Normally older Android smartphones are more likely to be affected by critical security vulnerabilities, but now things are looking very different. The latest models from Samsung, but also Google, are affected by a zero-day vulnerability. If you own one of the smartphones, you are not allowed to do one thing at the moment.

Samsung Galaxy S22 and Pixel 6 affected by zero-day vulnerability

A security researcher from Northwestern University has uncovered a zero-day vulnerability in modern smartphones. Affected are the Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro (test) as well as the Samsung Galaxy S22, S22 Pro and S22 Ultra (test) and all other Android devices using kernel v5.10. Since many of you don’t even know which kernel version is running on your Android smartphone, you should currently refrain from installing apps from third-party sources. The vulnerability could be exploited in any untested APK (source: Zhenpeng Lin).

Although developers and manufacturers try to close all security gaps, there are always situations in which really critical errors appear, which can then also be exploited. Through this A zero-day vulnerability would essentially give an attacker full access with many privileges on the smartphone.

The security researcher has reported the vulnerability to Google and assumes that this will be closed promptly with an update for the Pixel 6 cell phones. It will then take some time before all affected smartphones are really provided with an update that closes this gap. With Google and Samsung, this will work relatively quickly, with other manufacturers it will probably take a little longer. That’s why you should currently install apps and games directly from the Play Store and not from other sources.

The Pixel 6 hasn’t been on the market all that long:

This is how you notice an attacked smartphone

There are a few signs you can use to tell if something is wrong with your smartphone. Excessive heat development, although you do nothing with it, is one of the most important indicators. Furthermore, a greatly reduced battery life suggests that your smartphone is doing something in the background that you don’t notice. You should also keep an eye on your data volume. If an excessive amount of data is sent, this could also be an indication. In the worst case, you should completely reset your smartphone and change all passwords.