Google spotted 18 Zero-Day flaws in Samsung Exynos chips - The Indian Express

OEMs are likely to release an OTA update to fix the issue pretty soon.

Google, Samsung, and Vivo phones are vulnarable (Image credit: Samsung)

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If you own an Android smartphone from brands like Samsung, Pixel or Vivo, then your device could be severely compromised. People with bad intentions could take control of the device just by knowing your phone number, suggest Google’s in-house security analysts from Project Zero.

According to a blog by Project Zero, hackers can gain access to select smartphones from Samsung, Vivo and in-house Pixel smartphones that have as many as 18 0-day vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities are linked to devices with the Samsung-made Exynos chip; precisely the modem which allows hackers to do remote code execution.

In simpler words, hackers can remotely gain access to select smartphones with Exynos modems at the baseband level just with the phone number. Not just phones but a few other products that use Exynos Auto T5123 chipset are also vulnerable.

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Which smartphones are affected by Exynos modem vulnerability?

The Google Pixel 6 and Google Pixel 7 series of smartphones are affected by this compromise; this includes the Pixel 6a, Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro.

Similarly, the Samsung Galaxy S22 (review) Exynos variants are also affected along with a few other devices like Galaxy M33, Galaxy M13, Galaxy M12s, Galaxy A71, Galaxy A53, Galaxy A33, Galaxy A21s, Galaxy A13, Galaxy A12 and GalaxyA04 series of smartphones.

Lastly, Vivo smartphones such as the Vivo S16, S15, S6, X70, X60 and Vivo X30 series are also affected by this vulnerability.

While a simple security patch from OEM should fix the issue users with the aforementioned smartphones are advised to disable Wi-Fi calling and Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) to make their smartphones secure. And update their smartphone as soon as possible to make them secure.

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