Experts from the Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab have identified the vulnerability of the chargers. With its help, you can remotely control the parameters of the charging process of any gadget, including a smartphone. In fact, it is possible to remotely increase one of the indicators of the charger with the fast charging option, which can simply lead to the “burning” of the smartphone, that is, the gadget can not only burn the board, but also ignite physically.
A flamed smartphone can start a fire. This is already really scary. In the situation, billions of people are at risk of a new vulnerability that allows them to “burn” a mobile device.
This vulnerability was called Bad Power. The question remained unclear until the end – what exactly is the extent of the vulnerability. Experts tested 35 sources of chargers for touch phones, and found vulnerability in 18. That is, half of the tested devices are vulnerable. If this test is transferred to a global scale, it turns out that half of all smartphones and mobile devices are subject to Bad Power.
Of the 18 devices, 11 can be “hacked remotely”, while the remaining 7 require physical access to the device.
The vulnerability is that the charger can be flashed via USB. Manufacturers do not rule out this option. You can eliminate Bad Power in a similar way – release a firmware in which this vulnerability will be eliminated. The question is, will all manufacturers do this, or only those with a conscience?
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