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900 million Android devices susceptible to "QuadRooter" malware

The malware explouts vulnerabilities in Android devices with Qualcomm hardware.

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Beware Android users, there’s a new bit of malware out  in the wild that can gain root access to your smartphone, and every Android smartphone with Qualcomm components is at risk.

Called “QuadRooter”, the malware was first discovered by security firm Check Point, and has the ability to crack roughly 900 million Android devices around the world.

According to ZDNet, An attacker needs only find a way to trick the user into installing an app with the malicious software, which in this case wouldn’t even request any suspicious permissions. After that, QuadRooter has four possible vulnerabilities it can target. If any of those are bypassed, the bug gains root access and the attacker gains full control over the smartphone’s data and hardware.

Checkpoint says that any device using Qualcomm’s hardware is vulnerable, including Google’s Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, and Nexus 6P, HTC's One M9 and HTC 10, and Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. In fact, even BlackBerry’s “Secure Android” DTEK50 is vulnerable.

Devices are vulnerable because of pre-installed software with loopholes, so the only way to fix the exploitables is by patching the code. Qualcomm has reportedly confirmed that three of the four security flaws has been patched in recent Google security updates, however, one has remain untouched. The fix for that flaw is only coming in the beginning of September but, since Qualcomm has provided manufacturers with their bugfix code, they have the capability to send out patches of their own earlier than that

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