Qualcomm MSM Vulnerability That Could Give Access to SMS, Conversations, More Revealed; Fixes Reportedly Shared With OEMs
Qualcomm said in a statement that fixes were shared with OEMs in December 2020. By Vineet Washington | Updated: 7 May 2021 13:53 IST
Photo Credit: Check Point Research
Qualcomm MSM supports advanced features like 5G, 4G LTE, and more
Highlights
It is unclear which phones have been fixed
Qualcomm MSM vulnerability could have allowed access to SMS, calls, etc
Qualcomm s Mobile Station Modems (MSM) had a vulnerability that could have allowed attackers to access a user s SMS, audio of phone conversations, and more. The vulnerability was discovered by research firm Check Point Research and it found over 400 vulnerabilities on Qualcomm s Snapdragon Digital Signal Processor (DSP) chip in August last year. With a vast number of Android phones using Qualcomm SoCs, this would have put a mind boggling number of users data at risk. Q
A fix is on the way on May 6, 2021, 16:40
Why it matters: There are over 3 billion smartphone users around the world and almost a third of those devices use Qualcomm modems that have a large number of vulnerabilities, allowing attackers to unlock your SIM and listen in on your conversations, among other things. Given the way the vast Android ecosystem works, the fix will take a while to reach all affected devices.
If the BLURtooth vulnerability didn t look particularly worrisome, now we have a new security problem that creates a potential backdoor into a third of all mobile phones in the world, including high-end Android phones made by Samsung, LG, Google, OnePlus, and Xiaomi.