Security flaw discovered in Samsung Exynos chips

A wide range of Samsung mobile devices running on some of the company’s more prominent Exynos chipsets could be at risk from malicious attacks as a key security flaw has been unearthed.

As is so often the case, the discovery of the flaw came from a member of the xda-developers forums, where user ‘alephzain’ reported the findings.

The processor chips affected include the Exynos 4210 and Exyos 4412 which feature in some of Samsung’s most popular phones and tablets, including the Galaxy S3, Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note 2 amongst others.

Apparently the flaw could allow downloaded apps containing malicious code to gain access to the RAM and operating system kernel, which in turn could allow any number of dangerous activities.

Reports indicate this could allow hackers to view stored user data or even brick the device.

The shocked reaction from the xda community is indicative of how serious a problem this is, it would appear that this kind of root access to a device isn’t exactly unusual when someone has physical access to the phone, what is unprecedented is that this flaw would enable such activities to be carried out remotely via an app and even without active input from a hacker.

Users on the forum have stated that they’ve contacted Samsung about the problem and understand that the company is now investigating, however, Samsung still hasn’t publicly acknowledged the issue at time of writing.

The exploit is potentially wide-reaching with so many vulnerable Samsung handsets having already been sold, the Galaxy S3 alone has reportedly sold over 30 million units.