A new vulnerability was discovered over the weekend that affects some Samsung devices and could allow malicious apps to get into a device's memory and access things like user data. Now Samsung has responded to the exploit, telling Android Central that it's "currently in the process of conducting an internal review" on the issue. The company didn't offer up any other information on the situation or when a fix might be issued, but we'll be sure to update you when Samsung has more details to share. Here's to hoping that that happens soon.
The kernel exploit was found to affect a number of Samsung devices, including the international versions of the Galaxy S II, S III, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II variants, as well as almost any other device with an Exynos 4210 or 4412 processor. While we've yet to hear of any malicious apps that take advantage of this vulnerability, it's still a good idea for users to be cautious with what they download from Google Play and other sources. For folks that want some extra protection through unofficial means while waiting for a fix from Samsung, two XDA-developers users have put together apps that claim to close the security hole, one of which requires root access while the other does not. We've got links to both below.
Via Android Central (1), (2), Exynos exploit patch app from supercurio, Exynos exploit patch app from Chainfire
