Google says hackers could silently own your phone until Samsung fixes its modems

Project Zero, Google’s team dedicated to security research, has found some big problems in the Samsung modems that power devices like the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and some models of the Galaxy S22 and A53. According to its blog post, a variety of Exynos modems have a series of vulnerabilities that could “allow an attacker to remotely compromise a phone at the baseband level with no user interaction” without needing much more than a victim’s phone number. And, frustratingly, it seems like Samsung is dragging its feet on fixing it.

The team also warns that experienced hackers could exploit the issue “with only limited additional research and development.” Google says the March security update for Pixels should patch the problem — though 9to5Google notes that it’s not available for the Pixel 6, 6 Pro, and 6a yet (we also checked on our own 6a and there was no update). The researchers say they believe the following devices may be at risk:

It is worth noting that, in order for devices to be vulnerable, they have to use one of the affected Samsung modems. For a lot of S22 owners, that could be a relief — the phones sold outside of Europe and some African countries have a Qualcomm processor and also use a Qualcomm modem, and thus should be safe from these specific issues. But phones with Exynos processors, like the popular midrange A53, and European S22, might be vulnerable.

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