Quadrooter security risk could impact 900 million Android devices

This week, Check Point Software reported a high security risk to Android devices known as Quadrooter. Quadrooter is a set of four insecurities present on Qualcomm chipsets, which are used by many of the world’s most popular smartphones.

According to the report:

“If any one of the four vulnerabilities is exploited, an attacker can trigger privilege escalations for the purpose of gaining root access to the device.”

However, there is no need to panic yet. Quadroot can only exploit devices that have a malicious application installed. Google said there is no evidence of this happening yet.

Devices that use the Qualcomm chip include:

• Google Nexus 5X
• Nexus 6
• Nexus 6P
• HTC One
• HTC M9
• LG G4
• LG G5
• New Moto X
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
• OnePlus 3
• Samsung Galaxy S7
• Samsung S7 Edge 

In response to the report, Google told Fox News that Nexus devices are only exposed to one of the four issues, and are quickly working to fix the remaining issue.

Essentially, the only way users could be at risk of security breach is if they install a malicious app to their devices. Alex Gantman, Vice President of Engineering and Product Security Lead at Qualcomm, told Fox News that Android users would get a security warning about installing an application that isn’t from the Google Play Store, as well as other protections that would make installing the malicious app difficult.

Though Gantman said it is important that users be cautious with their devices, he did say the risk of security has been “exaggerated.”