New security flaw could make 66% Android devices vulnerable to hackers

A new bug has been discovered in the Linux kernel which could put millions of Android devices, Linux PCs and servers at the potential risk of being hacked. The bug was discovered by researchers at Perception Point.

According to their blog post in this regard:

“The Perception Point research team has identified a 0-day local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel. While the vulnerability has existed since 2012, our team discovered the vulnerability only recently, disclosed the details to the Kernel security team, and later developed a proof-of-concept exploit. As of the date of disclosure, this vulnerability has implications for approximately tens of millions of Linux PCs and servers, and 66 percent of all Android devices (phones/tablets).”

The bug, indexed as CVE-2016-0728, has existed for over 3 years now since the Linux kernel version 3.8 was released back in 2013. The company recently developed a proof-of-concept and reported the flaw to developers who maintain the kernel.

But for now no exploits of the bug have been reported. But since Android drives more than 1.4 billion devices, this virus is a threat to be dealt with great urgency. Until Linux rolls out a fix for this bug, millions of devices, including powerful servers, remain at risk, which is why Perception Point maintains that all concerned personnel should take necessary steps.

To find out more about the bug and its technicalities, head over here.