Smartphones with ARM Mali GPU are facing a new vulnerability. All models from Samsung to Xiaomi are affected.
Google has realized that a vulnerability potentially affecting millions of users has not been fixed for a month. According to the latest research by Google’s security researchers, brands using ARM Mali GPUs, from Samsung to Xiaomi, are affected.
Google finds vulnerability in smartphones with ARM Mali GPU
A new security issue discovered by the Google Project Zero team has been affecting smartphones using ARM’s Mali GPU for about a month now. The vulnerability, known as CVE-2022-33917, appears to still not be closed, despite ARM’s counterclaim.
This vulnerability, which affects numerous Android models that include the Mali GPU, such as Samsung, Xiaomi and Oppo, makes it possible to infiltrate the smartphone. According to Google, if exploited, hackers could gain access to the user’s data.
The vulnerability, which first appeared in June-July, was claimed to have been fixed by ARM. However, it seems that even Google’s own Pixel models are exposed to this vulnerability.
“We reported these five issues discovered between June and July 2022 to ARM, and ARM fixed the issues in July and August 2022. But we discovered that all of our test devices using Mali are still vulnerable to these issues,” Google said in a statement.
It is worth noting that smartphones with Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets are not affected by this vulnerability. However, considering that MediaTek, Samsung Exynos and Google Tensor are powered by Mali GPU, millions of devices are potentially at risk.
