The security of our phones is always in question for one reason or another. We are used to receiving bad news in the form of malware or viruses that affect the terminals we use on a daily basis. Fortunately, we have a few tools on Android that allow us to easily review the security of our device.
However, this does not mean that we witness from time to time how security is compromised by dangerous threats. Moreover, in this case, it would be serious, since the security breach there is no solution.
Google estimates that 90% of vulnerabilities are of this type.
It’s as always, Android expert Mishaal Rahman who discovered an important feature called Advanced memory protection which in Spanish would be something like “Advanced Memory Protection”. Security vulnerabilities that take advantage of the absence of this protection can cause a malicious application to write beyond memory region is assigned to him.
This event can be used by attackers to modify the behavior of said application and embed malware that penetrates the device. Throughout these years we have seen how different memory protection bugs have appeared, but it is scary to know that Google estimates that 90% of vulnerabilities are of this nature.
As Rahman commented, these errors can be Fixed in the next version of Android, But it will not be so easy. The new Advanced Memory Protection is available in Android 14 with a memory tagging extension on ARMv9 processor cores. Precisely, the latest phones from Google, the Pixel 7, ship the Tensor G2 belonging to the ARMv8.2 architecture, so they do not include the Memory marking extension.
Protection goes through Android 14 and an ARMv9 processor
Worse still, we should wait for the next generations for mobile processors to achieve this security enhancement. Supposedly, the next Pixel 8 and the Pixel Fold will feature this memory marking. In the meantime, we can only wait for the ARMv9 architecture to start being announced in 2022 flagships.
Some recently released phones might already be protected, like the recent Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, whose Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is built on the ARMv9 architecture. Also the OnePlus 11 would be support this feature.
However, the vast majority of entry-level and mid-range phones do not include processors based on the new version of the architecture. Thus, millions of users are exposed to this type of attack based on memory protection errors.
It is to be expected that over time all CPUs end up being made using the aforementioned technologyand eventually they will become cheaper for any range to include them.
For now, users will have to wait and possibly switch phones in the future.
We still have some doubts to clarify because we do not know if Protected by Samsung Knox to terminals of the Korean firm before these vulnerabilities, or while future phones that are not Pixel will activate the protection.
As ZDNET media comments, we will not be able to clarify these issues until the arrival of the final version of Android 14. The only positive thing we get is that protection is on the way, but surely we will have to change our mobile.
Through | XDA Developers
