Quadrooter is a newly discovered set of vulnerabilities that affects any and all devices powered by a Qualcomm chip. People have been anxious to know about security updates because if exploited, the vulnerability could provide the hacker with unprecedented access to their device.
Last week, Google took to the interwebs and announced that it will fix the vulnerability in the final update. And it now seems that other OEMs are also gearing up to finally address the Quadrooter vulnerability affecting over 900 million Android devices. First to come out of the shadows is Sony Mobile, who has committed to issue a fix for the vulnerability in an upcoming update.
Sony Mobile has stated that it has already started the development of the security patches. It will make them available to its customers as part of regular software maintenance updates very soon.
Stating the same, here’s a full quote from the company itself:
Sony Mobile takes the security and privacy of customer data very seriously. We are aware of the ‘Quadrooter’ vulnerability and are working to make the security patches available within normal and regular software maintenance, both directly to open-market devices and via our carrier partners, so timings can vary by region and/or operator.
Sony, however, hasn’t dropped any details on the specifics of the update timeline, nor has it released a list of devices that will receive the security patch. So, if you’re a Xperia smartphone user, you should keep an eye out for the update notification for your device. It has also recommended its users to protect their devices by installing genuine apps from the Play Store or other reputable app stores.
Quadrooter Vulnerability
Discovered by security firm Check Point, Quadrooter is a set of four new vulnerabilities affecting mobile phones and tablets powered by a Qualcomm chip. An attacker can exploit any one of these vulnerabilities by simply making you install a third-party malicious app. They can, thus, take advantage of this situation to root your device and gain access to your device, without raising any suspicion among users installing the same.
Some of the most popular Android smartphones, including the Google Nexus line-up, and Samsung Galaxy S7 line-up, also use these chipsets and are vulnerable to these exploits. Some of the smartphones, including Blackberry DTEK50 and Blackphone series, which boast to be the most secure smartphones are also affected by these vulnerabilities.
Qualcomm has already confirmed that it has fixed all of the aforementioned flaws and issued patches to customers, partners, and the open source community. And Google’s monthly update patches have fixed three of these vulnerabilities, while the fourth one is expected to be fixed in the upcoming September update.
