Samsung TouchWiz vulnerability | wipe phones

[mystic]

Samsung TouchWiz vulnerability will wipe some phones after just clicking a link.
A particular piece of HTML code has emerged that, when clicked, instantly resets the Galaxy S II — and may be other Android devices running the TouchWiz UI.
SOURCE

 

[Raviteja]

Devices confirmed to be at risk include:

Galaxy S Advance
Galaxy S II
Galaxy S III
Galaxy Ace
Galaxy Beam


I heard SIII is fixed....But not sure about it

The flaw is only present in Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, so those with a Galaxy Nexus device running the stock Android operating system — or those who have flashed the stock Android operating system to their handset themselves, removing TouchWiz — should be safe.

 

[Raviteja]

Update: This issue is, unsurprisingly, a lot more nuanced than the video here lets on. The bug is based in the stock Android browser, is in fact quite old, and has been patched in more recent builds of Android - this is probably why Nexus devices running the most recent OTAs are unaffected. The fact is, this is not a Samsung problem, it's an old Android problem that has been known about for some time. More recent versions of Android avoid the wipe issue, but unpatched devices (like some Samsung phones) may still be vulnerable.