Samsung is the largest phone manufacturer in the whole world, but it is also known that its products do not come with the standard version of Android, but with various implemented modifications. It seems that these changes that Samsung makes in its phones also generate big security problems, or at least that's what Google claims, which has publicly revealed that the Korean changes generate risks for its customers.
Samsung has discussed the changes made to the Android kernel that is used in the Samsung GALAXY A50, with Google stating that they can allow hackers to execute unsigned code remotely. The problem that Google report it it targets Samsung phones from the GALAXY A50 series running Android 10, but considering that most Korean phones come with a modified kernel, it is possible that others will also be affected by the changes.
Samsung: Google's SERIOUS WARNING on Phones
Samsung in November, Google reported a problem with the GALAXY A50 series phones that affects the system that authenticates processes in the phones, but it was only resolved in February. Samsung has implemented in the GALAXY A50 phones various drivers and changes for the kernel with the idea of providing various functions for the devices, but these are also a source of vulnerabilities, but not only in these devices, but also in many other Korean ones.
“This blog post discusses a bug that leads to memory corruption in Samsung's Android kernel (specifically the Galaxy A50, A505FN kernel - we haven't looked at Samsung's kernels for other devices). In my opinion, some of the custom features that Samsung has added are unnecessary and can be removed without any loss of value. I can't say what PROCA is supposed to do, but for example SEC_RESTRICT_SETUID seems to be designed to restrict an attacker who has already gained read/write access to the arbitrary kernel - which seems unnecessary to me, and engineering resources would have been more well spent to prevent an attacker from getting to that point in the first place.”
Samsung is unnecessarily making these changes to its phones, according to Google, and many of them are not sent to its engineers for verification, which of course leaves users at risk. Google says that Samsung should focus its efforts on implementing security measures, not on weakening the ones it has implemented, and this should be a warning to customers who buy the Korean phones.
Samsung it fixes everything that most phone manufacturers do, and Google is the one who takes the blame for the bad changes made in Android, which instead make the phones vulnerable, but not because of the Americans.
