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On Monday , chipmaker Qualcommconfirmedthat hackers exploited azero - day — meaning a security flaw that was unknown to the ironware maker when it was abused — in dozens of its chipsets receive in popular Android machine .

The zero - day exposure , officially designatedCVE-2024 - 43047 , “ may be under limited , targeted victimisation , ” allot to Qualcomm , cite unspecified “ indication ” from Google ’s Threat Analysis Group , the society ’s enquiry unit that investigates regime hacking threats . Amnesty International ’s Security Lab , which solve to protect civil guild from digital surveillance and spyware threat , confirm Google ’s assessment , Qualcomm said .

U.S. cybersecurity bureau CISA include the Qualcomm flawin its list of vulnerabilitiesthat are sleep with to be , or have been , exploited .

At this pointedness , there are n’t many point about who was exploiting this vulnerability “ in the natural state ” — mean that whoever was using the zero - Clarence Day was direct person in real whoop political campaign . It also is not yet experience which individuals were aim , or why .

Qualcomm ’s spokesperson Catherine Baker tell apart TechCrunch that the company commends “ the researchers from Google Project Zero and Amnesty International Security Lab for using coordinated revealing practice session , ” allowing the companionship to roll out hole for the vulnerability .

The chipmaker referred to Amnesty and Google for more inside information about the menace bodily function .

Amnesty voice Hajira Maryam told TechCrunch that the non-profit-making will have research about this vulnerability “ due to be out soon . ”

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Google spokesperson Kimberly Samra said TAG has nothing to tot at the moment .

Qualcomm ’s spokesperson read that “ fix have been made available to our customers as of September 2024 . ” It ’s now up to Qualcomm ’s client — the Android twist Godhead that use the vulnerable chipsets — to release the patch to their customers ’ devices .

In its advisory , Qualcomm listed 64 dissimilar chipsets dissemble by this vulnerability , including the fellowship ’s flagship Snapdragon 8 ( Gen 1 ) mobile platform , which is used indozens of Android telephone , including some made by Motorola , Samsung , OnePlus , Oppo , Xiaomi , and ZTE — meaning millions of users around the world are potentially vulnerable .

That being say , the fact that Google and Amnesty are investigating the consumption of this zero - day under “ modified , targeted exploitation ” evoke the hack military campaign was in all probability used against specific individuals , rather than a orotund bit of object .

Brian Heater add reporting .

UPDATE , October 9 , 1:07 p.m. ET : This story was update to let in Amnesty ’s input .