Samsung Galaxy S22 Series, Pixel 6 Affected by Severe ‘Dirty Pipe’

Samsung Galaxy S22 series and Pixel 6 smartphones have been identified as being vulnerable to a serious vulnerability called "Dirty Pipe" that allows hackers and malicious individuals to gain system-level access. The vulnerability is in the Linux kernel used by Android and Google has not yet confirmed a fix.

This flaw was first recognized in the mainstream Linux kernel, and since Android also uses the Linux kernel, new devices running the affected kernel version also inherit the "dirty pipe" vulnerability. Hackers could use this vulnerability to get full root access to a device, apart from reading and manipulating application data. 

According to a proof of concept developed by security researcher Max Kellerman, this vulnerability also exists in Google's latest smartphone, the Pixel 6. If a smartphone is upgraded to Android 12, users don’t have to worry as this vulnerability affects only Android 12.

Kellerman reported a ‘Dirty Pipe’ vulnerability to Google in February. A March security update was released, but it's unclear if this vulnerability has been fixed, as Google hasn't mentioned anything in the changelog.