Android Root Access Vulnerability Affecting Most Devices (Threatpost)

Threatpost reports that most Android devices are vulnerable to a privilege escalation flaw in the kernel. “Researchers at Lacoon Mobile Security are calling the bug “TowelRoot,” because it is the very same vulnerability (CVE-2014-3153) exploited in the latest Android rooting tool developed by George Hotz (Geohot). Successful exploitation of the Linux bug within the Android operating system would give the attacker administrative access to a victim’s phone. Specifically, such access could potentially allow that same attacker to run further malicious code, retrieve files and device data, bypass third-party or enterprise security applications including containers like Samsung’s secure Knox sub-operating system, and establish backdoors for future access on victim devices.“