MASSIVE Samsung Galaxy deals during Discover Samsung!

SamMobile has affiliate and sponsored partnerships. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn a commission.

Security flaw in Qualcomm modems affects millions of 5G Samsung devices

Phone
By 

Last updated: May 12th, 2021 at 15:54 UTC+02:00

A serious security flaw affecting Qualcomm’s mobile station modems (MSM) was recently disclosed by security research team Check Point, who claims that the vulnerability could be exploited to inject malicious code into the phone by using the Android operating system itself as an entry point. The affected chip(s) are reportedly responsible for connecting nearly 40% of all smartphones in the world, including high-end phones from Samsung and other OEMs.

The research team found that if a researcher wants to explore the latest 5G code in devices powered by Qualcomm’s modems by implementing a debugger, the easiest way to do that is to exploit MSM data services through QMI’ (Qualcomm MSM Interface). The investigation revealed a vulnerability in modem data service that can be used to control the modem and dynamically patch it from the application processor.’

Numerous Samsung Galaxy devices remain vulnerable to this threat

The good news is that although the security flaw was publicly disclosed earlier today, it has already been addressed and patched by Qualcomm in December 2020. The issue was kept under wraps for obvious security reasons.

The not-so-good news is that numerous smartphones developed by Samsung (as well as other OEMs) are still vulnerable as of this writing. As always, if a part manufacturer such as Qualcomm releases a patch for its hardware, it’s up to smartphone OEMs to distribute the update as they see fit. And because we live in the world of Android OS where fragmentation is par for the course, some devices will be updated sooner than others, with availability differing by region.

Now, because Check Point has decided to make this issue public, this indicates that smartphone OEMs — including Samsung — should now be in the process of updating their devices to address the security flaw, however, it may take some time.

The May 2021 security patch is now rolling out for numerous Galaxy devices, but it might not contain the necessary fixes for this issue. The security patch does include a fix for devices powered by both Exynos and Qualcomm chipsets — one that was reported in December — but it doesn’t seem to match Check Point’s description. Qualcomm has classified the vulnerability as ‘CVE-2020-11292,’ and this classification was not mentioned in Samsung’s latest security bulletin.

Update: Samsung has since updated the May 2021 security bulletin and confirmed that the security flaw classified as “CVE-2020-11292” has been gradually patched since January.

Original story continues:

At the end of the day, what this means is that Samsung is, or should soon be in the process of releasing a new security patch that fixes Qualcomm’s security flaw. However, we’re not sure how many models are affected or if the May 2021 security patch addresses it in any capacity.

Either way, mobile device users should make sure that they’re always running the latest security updates. SamMobile readers can refer to our new online tool to check if their phone runs the latest security patch available in their region.

Via FirmwareGeneralPhoneTablet 5GQualcomm
Load comments

You might also like

Samsung gets one last chance to make Exynos great again, or should it?

Samsung gets one last chance to make Exynos great again, or should it?

As self-proclaimed Samsung fans (and as folks who have spent the years using and writing about its products), we have something of a soft spot for the Korean juggernaut. We’ve had a lot of positive things to say about Samsung, and we’ve also had a lot of negative things to say. Still, whenever the company […]

  • By Abhijeet Mishra
  • 2 weeks ago
Enjoy better looking mobile games with Snapdragon Game Super Resolution

Enjoy better looking mobile games with Snapdragon Game Super Resolution

If you love playing mobile games, you will be interested in Qualcomm’s new spatial upscaling tool called Snapdragon Game Super Resolution or GSR. The company claims that this tool will maximize mobile game performance and battery life. GSR is one of many upscaling techniques that exist for mobile games, allowing upscaling from a lower resolution […]

  • By Adnan Farooqui
  • 3 weeks ago
ARM prototype chips may have put fear in the hearts of chipmakers

ARM prototype chips may have put fear in the hearts of chipmakers

Samsung’s Exynos chips may soon face another competitor. The British semiconductor company Arm is reportedly prototyping its own chipset (or multiple ones), which would compete with Samsung’s Exynos as well as Qualcomm and MediaTek, putting Arm in an awkward position as a chip designer but also in a position to shake the semiconductor industry to […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 3 weeks ago
Galaxy S24 could have more RAM and storage, thanks to Exynos

Galaxy S24 could have more RAM and storage, thanks to Exynos

Samsung made all Galaxy fans happy by exclusively using a Snapdragon processor in the Galaxy S23 series. Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy, the Galaxy S23 series offered the best performance and battery life ever seen in Galaxy S series smartphones. However, the company still plans to bring back the Exynos processor […]

  • By Asif Iqbal Shaik
  • 4 weeks ago
Galaxy S24 could have a much faster GPU than iPhone 15

Galaxy S24 could have a much faster GPU than iPhone 15

iPhones have always had better graphics performance among all smartphones for many years now. That trend was broken a few months ago by phones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. The Adreno 740 GPU in Qualcomm’s latest chipset is faster than in the Apple A16 Bionic. Since all Galaxy S23 units use this […]

  • By Abid Iqbal Shaik
  • 1 month ago
Tests show the Galaxy S23 is a better 5G phone than Galaxy S22

Tests show the Galaxy S23 is a better 5G phone than Galaxy S22

One of the ways in which the Galaxy S23 series is technically superior to the Galaxy S22 lineup is through a new Qualcomm modem. The 2023 flagships sport the Snapdragon X70, which should be an upgrade over the S22’s Snapdragon X65 chip. At least on paper, according to the manufacturer. But what about performance in […]

  • By Mihai Matei
  • 2 months ago