Info This Simple Hack Disables Most Samsung Phones

[Paul Wagenseil]

Two lines of code are enough to lock the Samsung Knox secure container and lock the user into a phone's launch screen.

This Simple Hack Disables Most Samsung Phones : Read more

 

[TJ Hooker]

Samsung is correct that at the moment, you'd have to sideload an app capable of doing this onto a Samsung device, which would of course require physical access to the phone and a way past the device's lockscreen.

But it would be pretty easy to put Baptiste's code into an otherwise innocuous-looking app, sneak the app into the Google Play app store and fool an authorized user into installing it.

If someone had physical access to your phone and wanted to disable without actually exploiting it for their own gain in any way, they could just smash it on the ground...

There's always a risk if you're installing sketchy apps from the play store, and frankly I think there are bigger risks than this 'exploit'. https://threatpost.com/google-play-malicious-apps/141842/

Especially given that there is no incentive for a would be attacker to actually use this exploit in the first place.