The Perception Point team claimed that the Linux kernel vulnerability had “implications for approximately tens of millions of Linux PCs and servers, and 66% of all Android devices”, but Google disputed the number of potentially affected Android devices. This vulnerability exists in the keyring facility built into the Linux kernel. Each and every Linux server should be patched to get rid of the bug. The code could be used to do all kinds of things – gaining root access to a server, gaining control of the entire OS on an Android phone, or even attacking hardware that runs an embedded version of Linux, like a router.
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Perception Point cofounder and CEO Yevgeny Pats told Threatpost this week the vulnerability that it was unknown whether the flaw was under attack.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2016-0728, was found and reported to the Linux kernel security team and several Linux distribution maintainers by researchers from an Israeli threat defense start-up called Perception Point. As of January 4, Google reports that 27 percent of all in-the-wild Android devices are running version 4.2 of Android or earlier.
A serious security flaw has been found in the Linux kernel affecting millions of both Linux and Android devices worldwide. Gaining access is also a simple enough matter; an attacker could use a simple phishing link to infiltrate the device. OS keyring was designed as a way to store legitimate credentials such as encryption keys, authentication tokens and so on. Hackers will be able to view users’ personal information, delete files and also install malicious apps after gaining root access to a PC or a mobile device. “Further, devices with Android 5.0 and above are protected, as the Android SELinux policy prevents third party applications from reaching the affected code”, Ludwig said.
The research team finally says that Supervisor Mode Access Prevention (SMAP) and Supervisor Mode Execution Protection (SMEP) as well as SELinux on Android devices can make exploiting this vulnerability hard.
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Most Android devices receive software support for only 18 months after which they’re cut off from patches. Fortunately, the major companies that make Linux operating systems are releasing fixes today that should take care of the flaw.
