ADVERTISEMENT

HOME/SECURITY/

Android security nightmare: unprivileged app take over flagship phones

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi 17, Oppo Find X9 Ultra, and OnePlus Ace 6 Ultra are among the smartphones vulnerable to the exploit.

￼

￼

Ernestas NaprysSenior Journalist

September 14, 2026Updated: 3 hours ago3 min read

Key takeaways:

A researcher demonstrated an unprivileged app gaining root access on Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme flagships.

The flaws sit in manufacturer-added software and drivers, not stock Android itself.

The attack first escapes the app sandbox, then abuses a memory flaw in an OEM kernel driver.

Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.

The latest flagships from Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and OnePlus – all running the latest security updates – fell to an unprivileged app. And it’s not Android’s fault – the software added by phone manufacturers is critically vulnerable and has deep access to the system.

Lukas Maar, a security researcher at Calif, has unveiled an uncomfortable weak point in Android devices – OEM software is critically vulnerable, allowing attackers to pop a root shell on major smartphone brands.

The researcher demonstrated an unprivileged app with no permissions taking full control of Android devices.

The same hacking strategy, dubbed “OEMpocalypse Now,” produced three exploit chains targeting Samsung flagships from at least the Galaxy S23 through the S26 series and the recent Z series, most Xiaomi mid-range to flagship devices, and recent Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme flagships.