A security researcher has discovered a serious vulnerability affecting the kernel of Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro and other Android smartphones (with Linux kernel based on version 5.10), such as those of the Samsung Galaxy S22 series.
According to what was made known by Zhenpeng Lin, the researcher author of the discovery, this vulnerability would be able to lead to the enabling of arbitrary reading and writing, the escalation of privileges and the disabling of SELinux security protections.
How the new vulnerability works
While not having provided precise details on how this vulnerability works, the researcher has published a demonstration on video:
The latest Google Pixel 6 pwned with a 0day in kernel! Achieved arbitrary read/write to escalate privilege and disable SELinux without hijacking control flow. The bug also affects Pixel 6 Pro, other Pixels are not affected 🙂 pic.twitter.com/UsOI3ZbN3L
— Zhenpeng Lin (@Markak_) July 5, 2022
According to Zhenpeng Lin, this vulnerability affects all smartphones using Linux Kernel version 5.10 and other recent devices launched with Android 12 may be included in addition to the Samsung Galaxy S22 series.
As often happens in cases like this, Lin also preferred not to publicly disclose details of any kind regarding the vulnerability at this initial stage and only in the event that Google does not provide a solution within the normal times required in these situations could it provide more information (especially to protect end-users).
After posting the demonstration on Twitter, the security researcher also informed Google of this discovered vulnerability, in order to allow his team of developers to find a solution to be made available to users in the shortest time.
At present, neither Google nor Samsung have taken an official position on this vulnerability but the hope is that both companies will be able to find a solution and release it to users within a few days. We’ll see.
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