Millions of Android smartphones are victims of a serious security breach. A researcher in computer security has discovered an anomaly in the CPUs manufactured by Qualcomm. Google quickly added a patch to the April 2019 security patch. Find out if your phone is affected by this breach.
A security breach has been discovered in many chips manufactured by Qualcomm, report our colleagues ZDNet. A researcher by the name of Keegan Ryan ensures that an attacker can recover private data and encryption keys stored in a secure area of Qualcomm components.
By exploiting the breach, a seasoned attacker can seize remote passwords and private data stored by certain applications. Obviously, the expert warned Qualcomm and Google of the existence of this flaw. As a reminder, a flaw of this ilk had already hit the chips of Qualcomm in 2015. Here is the list of Qualcomm CPUs affected by the fault identified by Keegan Ryan:
IPQ8074
MDM9150
MDM9206
MDM9607
MDM9650
MDM9655
MSM8909W
MSM8996AU
QCA8081,
QCS605
Qualcomm 215
SD 210 / SD 212 / SD 205
SD 410/12,
SD 425
SD 427
SD 430
SD 435
SD 439 / SD 429
SD 450
SD 615/16
SD 415
SD 625
SD 632
SD 636
SD 650/52
SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670
SD 820
SD 820A
SD 835
SD 845 / SD 850
SD 8CX
SDA660
SDM439
SDM630
SDM660
Snapdragon_High_Med_2016
SXR1130
As you can see, all the chips that power recent high-end Android smartphones are in the list. The newer models, with Snapdragon 855, escape this flaw. If your smartphone is equipped with a SoC from the list above, we invite you to install without further delay the Android security patch of April 2019.
As ZDNet points out, many smartphones may still be vulnerable for many months. Some of the listed CPUs actually power older or entry-level devices. In some cases, the manufacturers will not jostle therefore to propose the patch. Many dated devices receive security updates only every 3, 3, or 6 months. Have you already received the patch? Do you use a smartphone powered by one of these chips?
Android: list of Qualcomm CPUs affected by the vulnerability
By exploiting the breach, a seasoned attacker can seize remote passwords and private data stored by certain applications. Obviously, the expert warned Qualcomm and Google of the existence of this flaw. As a reminder, a flaw of this ilk had already hit the chips of Qualcomm in 2015. Here is the list of Qualcomm CPUs affected by the fault identified by Keegan Ryan:
IPQ8074
MDM9150
MDM9206
MDM9607
MDM9650
MDM9655
MSM8909W
MSM8996AU
QCA8081,
QCS605
Qualcomm 215
SD 210 / SD 212 / SD 205
SD 410/12,
SD 425
SD 427
SD 430
SD 435
SD 439 / SD 429
SD 450
SD 615/16
SD 415
SD 625
SD 632
SD 636
SD 650/52
SD 712 / SD 710 / SD 670
SD 820
SD 820A
SD 835
SD 845 / SD 850
SD 8CX
SDA660
SDM439
SDM630
SDM660
Snapdragon_High_Med_2016
SXR1130
As you can see, all the chips that power recent high-end Android smartphones are in the list. The newer models, with Snapdragon 855, escape this flaw. If your smartphone is equipped with a SoC from the list above, we invite you to install without further delay the Android security patch of April 2019.
As ZDNet points out, many smartphones may still be vulnerable for many months. Some of the listed CPUs actually power older or entry-level devices. In some cases, the manufacturers will not jostle therefore to propose the patch. Many dated devices receive security updates only every 3, 3, or 6 months. Have you already received the patch? Do you use a smartphone powered by one of these chips?
