Linux zero-day affects most Androids, millions of Linux PCs

A new zero-day vulnerability has been discovered that allows Android or Linux applications to escalate privileges and gain root access, according to a report released this morning by Perception Point.

“This affects all Android phones KitKat and higher,” said Yevgeny Pats, co-founder and CEO at security vendor Perception Point.

Any machine with Linux Kernel 3.8 or higher is vulnerable, he said, including tens of millions of Linux PCs and servers, both 32-bit and 64-bit. Although Linux lags in popularity on the desktop, the operating system dominates the Internet, mobile, embedded systems and the Internet of Things, and powers nearly all of the world’s supercomputers.

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