Android vulnerability lets a single SMS crash a smartphone
Security researcher Mark Blaszczyk has found a vulnerability affecting smartphones running Android 12 and newer versions. A specially crafted WAP Push SMS is processed in the background and never appears in the user's inbox.
Security researcher Mark Blaszczyk has discovered a dangerous vulnerability in the Android operating system, developed by Google. It threatens smartphones running Android 12 or later versions of the system, so it could potentially affect a wide range of devices.
How the problem works
The flaw is rooted in a specially crafted SMS message of the WAP Push type. Android's software cannot process such a message correctly, and this causes a malfunction.
Why it is dangerous
The most worrying feature of the flaw, according to the report, is that the text message does not even appear in the user's inbox. Android tries to handle it in the background, so the owner of the device may not notice anything happening. As the headline of the report puts it, a single such SMS is enough to break a smartphone.
The available excerpt of the source does not describe the further consequences in detail, and it does not say whether a fix has already been released. What is clearly known is that the vulnerability affects Android 12 and newer versions and relies on an incorrectly processed WAP Push SMS.
