Portaltic.-A vulnerability in the Linux kernel puts Android phones at risk

Madrid, 9 (Portaltic / EP)

The recently discovered Linux kernel vulnerability affects the latest Android devices, which are subject to system privilege escalation if not patched.

The vulnerability that has existed in the Linux kernel since version 5.8 was discovered by Max Kellermann, who detailed on his blog the details of his discovery, a year ago, and its operation.

Specifically, Kellermann notes that the vulnerability, called “Dirty Pipe”, “allows data to be overwritten in random read-only files”, resulting in “privilege escalation because non-privileged processes can inject code into root processes”.

Rather, it is a design flaw that affects data transmission pipelines, is a tool for one-way communication between processes, and allows a non-privileged local user to “write to pages in a file-backed page cache”. read-only, and as such, escalate their privileges into the system,” as detailed on the page where they are specified (CVE-2022-0847).

Android phones use the Linux kernel, which makes them vulnerable to this error. It will affect the latest models, such as the Pixel 6 or Samsung Galaxy S22 – that information in the Android version has a kernel number equal to or greater than 5.8 – but there is no indication that it has been exploited.

It is also a patched security vulnerability, for which there is a patch, although it is expected to arrive in Android security news in April, because it is not present in March.