Centre issues high-risk warning for Samsung phone users: Details here

CERT-In warning: The security alert classified the vulnerabilities as high-risk and stressed the urgent need for Samsung users to upgrade their phones' operating system

The Centre has given additional security warnings this week to users of Samsung Galaxy phones. On December 13, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issued a security advisory calling attention to various susceptibilities affecting several Samsung Galaxy phones.

CERT-In classified the vulnerabilities as high-risk and stressed the urgent need for Samsung users to upgrade their phones' operating systems. Samsung Mobile Android versions 11, 12, 13, and 14 are vulnerable to such attacks, the report said. 

"Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Samsung products that could allow an attacker to bypass implemented security restrictions, access sensitive information, and execute arbitrary code on the targeted system," CERT-In said.

Risks associated with vulnerabilities in Samsung phones

According to the security note, these security flaws "may allow an attacker to trigger a heap overflow and stack-based buffer overflow, access device SIM PIN, send a broadcast with elevated privilege, read sandbox data of AR Emoji, bypass Knox Guard lock via changing system time, access arbitrary files, gain access to sensitive information, execute arbitrary code and compromise the targeted system,"

Failing to update the operating system (OS) of Samsung Galaxy phones could leave them susceptible to potential hazards. This gives hackers an opportunity to circumvent device security and gain unauthorised access to sensitive data. Hackers can snoop around user files and steal important information.

Samsung's response to CERT-In warning

The smartphone maker has acknowledged the security flaws and announced the rollout of a maintenance release as part of the upcoming December 2023 update. "Samsung Mobile is releasing a maintenance release for major flagship models as part of the monthly Security Maintenance Release (SMR) process. This SMR package includes patches from Google and Samsung," reads the Samsung security notification.