Multiple vulnerabilities discovered in Samsung’s Exynos modems
While Samsung’s Exynos chipsets are typically found in the company’s own products, they do make their way into other gadgets, especially other components like modems. Unfortunately for some users, it appears that some of Samsung’s Exynos modems have security vulnerabilities in them that hopefully aren’t being exploited as we speak.
This is according to security researchers over at Google’s Project Zero, where they have revealed that they have discovered as many as 18 unpatched vulnerabilities in Samsung’s Exynos modems. While handset makers don’t typically advertise the components they use, some devices that do use the Exynos modems include Google’s Pixel 6 and 7 series, the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, the Galaxy A53, and several older models.
It also includes handsets from Vivo, smartwatches, as well as some vehicles that use the Exynos Auto T5123 chipset. Should these vulnerabilities be exploited, it would give hackers remote access to your device at a baseband level based just on your phone number alone, which obviously is pretty scary.
The good news is that as far as Google’s Pixel 7 handsets are concerned, Google themselves have patched the issue as part of the March security update, but it has yet to be extended to the Pixel 6 series. Hopefully Samsung and other device makers will issue a patch now that this information has been made public, but until then, Google has cautioned against making WiFi or VoLTE calls just to be safe.
Source: Android Police