Hackers could disrupt millions of smartphones by abusing this critical bug TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Hackers could disrupt millions of smartphones by abusing this critical bug By Sead Fadilpašić published 3 June 2022 A flaw in a common modem chip has been discovered (Image credit: Getty Images) Audio player loading… A serious vulnerability present in more than a tenth of the world's mobile phones could allow threat actors to kill all communications in a certain location, researchers have found. Security analysts from Check Point Research (CPR) found the flaw in the UNISOC modem which, as the researchers claim, can be found in 11% of all the smartphones in the world (predominantly in Africa and Asia). The modem allows for cellular communication, and by leveraging the flaw, the attacker can remotely deny modem services and block communication. (opens in new tab) Share your thoughts on Cybersecurity and get a free copy of the Hacker's Manual 2022 (opens in new tab). Help us find how businesses are preparing for the post-Covid world and the implications of these activities on their cybersecurity plans. Enter your email at the end of this survey (opens in new tab) to get the bookazine, worth $10.99/£10.99. Critical UNISOC modem vulnerability The flaw is now being tracked as CVE-2022-20210, and carries a vulnerability score of 9.4 out of 10 as a reflection of its severity. According to CPR, the vulnerability was discovered in NAS message handlers, which could be used to disrupt radio communication through a malformed packet. Apparently, military or state-sponsored hackers would be able to use it to kill all communications in specific locations. Since the discovery of the flaw, a patch has been issued, and all smartphone users are urged to keep their devices up to date at all times. Read more> Google fixes "critical" Android 12 security flaw (opens in new tab) > Serious Qualcomm security flaw could have affected millions of phones (opens in new tab) > 8 reasons why smartphones are privacy nightmare (opens in new tab) "There is nothing for Android users to do right now, though we strongly recommend applying the patch that will be released by Google in their upcoming Android Security Bulletin," said Slava Makkaveev, Reverse Engineering & Security Research at Check Point Software. Although not as high-profile as software flaws, hardware flaws are just as frequent, and just as dangerous. Earlier this month, a security flaw was discovered in Qualcomm's MSM chips, which could have allowed threat actors to access SMS messages and phone conversations in a third of the world's Android endpoints. This vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2020-11292, was also discovered by Check Point Research, who discovered it while using a process known as fuzzing to test Qualcomm's mobile station modem (MSM) for flaws in its firmware.Worried about cybersecurity? Check out the best secure smartphones around Sead Fadilpašić Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he's written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He's also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications. See more Computing news Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to theTechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1The iPhone 14 Pro is made of the wrong stuff; the Pixel 7 proves that to me2Stop saying Mario doesn't have an accent in The Super Mario Bros. Movie3Google Pixel Tablet is what Apple should've done ages ago4RTX 4090 too expensive? Nvidia resurrects another old favorite5More than one million credit card details leaked online1The iPhone 14 Pro is made of the wrong stuff; the Pixel 7 proves that to me2iPhone 15 tipped to come with an upgraded 5G chip3If this feature succeeds for Modern Warfare 2, Microsoft can't ignore it4Apple October launches: the new devices we might see this month5The Rings of Power episode 8 trailer feels like one big Sauron misdirect Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View (opens in new tab)