Home
Mobiles
Mobiles News
LG Smartphones' Factory Reset Protection Can Be Easily Byed: Report

LG Smartphones' Factory Reset Protection Can Be Easily Byed: Report 556857

By Manish Singh | Updated: 13 January 2016 15:45 IST

ment

Google LG. 1s6v5g

A flaw discovered in LG smartphones enables an attacker - or anyone - to by the Factory Reset Protection (FRP) on the device. By doing so, the fraudster could gain access to the stolen smartphone or tablet. The flaw was discovered by RootJunky, who has also made a video demonstration to walk s through all the steps that are needed to break the security protection.

As per the video, a is required to go to Accessibility settings, which for some reason is open. Once there, as RootJunky pointed out, some more changes in the settings are required (as you can see in the video below). The video points out that LG isn't completely disabling a from accessing the Web browser, and File Explorer app. Thanks to these security holes, all a needs is a patch - available from RootJunky's website -- install it, and trick the phone into factory resetting itself.

This isn't the first time an OEM has been found to have a weak implementation of Factory Reset Protection feature. Last year, RootJunky found vulnerabilities in Samsung smartphones. The flaw, however, required someone to plug-in a USB drive.

Google has taken a strong stand on the factory reset feature. The documentation for the Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which it released last year, revealed that the Mountain View-based company has made it mandatory for OEMs to provide the secure factory reset feature. It will be interesting to see if that will curtail these security holes.

Comments

For the latest reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.