- Apr 21, 2016
- 4,370
Security researchers from Google's Project Zero have discovered a sophisticated and nasty bug affecting Wi-Fi chips from Broadcom, a supplier who provides gear for iPhones, Nexuses and Samsung devices.
According to Gal Baniamini, the Project Zero researcher signing the detailed blog post on the exploit, by chaining together a series of exploits, an attacker could perform a full device takeover via Wi-Fi proximity alone, requiring no user interaction. In plain speak, if you're on the same Wi-Fi network as the attacker, like a public hotspot, an attacker could quietly compromise your device without you even knowing.
The demonstration was made on a Nexus 6P, but the problem affects all devices running on Broadcom WiFi SoCs, including Nexus 5 and 6, most Samsung flagship devices, and all iPhones since the iPhone 4. Broadcom has already been notified and collaborated with Google on fixing the problem, while also making fixes available to affected vendors.
Read more: Wi-Fi Chip in iPhones, Samsung & Nexus Phones, Vulnerable to Over the Air Hack
According to Gal Baniamini, the Project Zero researcher signing the detailed blog post on the exploit, by chaining together a series of exploits, an attacker could perform a full device takeover via Wi-Fi proximity alone, requiring no user interaction. In plain speak, if you're on the same Wi-Fi network as the attacker, like a public hotspot, an attacker could quietly compromise your device without you even knowing.
The demonstration was made on a Nexus 6P, but the problem affects all devices running on Broadcom WiFi SoCs, including Nexus 5 and 6, most Samsung flagship devices, and all iPhones since the iPhone 4. Broadcom has already been notified and collaborated with Google on fixing the problem, while also making fixes available to affected vendors.
Read more: Wi-Fi Chip in iPhones, Samsung & Nexus Phones, Vulnerable to Over the Air Hack
