Terrifying phone bug can bypass lock screen; know how it is done

A scary phone bug was found on Google Pixel phone, which can let a hacker bypass the lock screen and access your personal data. Know how to protect yourself.

Know how to protect yourself from a scary Android phone bug that lets anyone bypass the lock screen. (Amritanshu / HT Tech)

A scary Android phone bug was discovered by a bug hunter that can affect millions of Android users around the world. This dangerous phone bug lets anyone to bypass the lock screen on the phone, even if it is protected by fingerprint scanner, password or pattern protection. This phone bug is so dangerous that it allows strangers to get direct access your smartphone and all personal information inside it. This means if your smartphone ends up in the wrong hands, your personal and financial information can easily be stolen from you as the lock screen can be bypassed. So, what is this bug and is there a way for you to protect yourself? Read on to find out how it was done.

Bug hunter David Schutz was the one who exposed this Android bug, according to a report by The Sun. Schutz accidentally came across it on his Google Pixel. It is unclear whether this bug only exists on Pixel devices or other Android devices as well at the moment. However, it has sent a big alert to Google and the company has actually worked on rolling out a fix for this problem..

Android bug that can let hackers bypass phone's lock screen

The bug is extremely easy to trigger and that is what makes it scary. Even though a person would have to physically access your smartphone in order to bypass the lock screen, if your device was stolen, it puts you in a very vulnerable position.

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How this phone bug works

As explained by Schutz, the major step is to change SIM cards. That is all you need to do in order to bypass any lock screen, whether password protected or fingerprint controlled. First, you need to enter incorrect fingerprint scans which will temporarily disable the biometric features. After this, one can simply take out the SIM card and add another into the smartphone. Entering the PIN incorrectly three times will activate the PUK (Personal Unblocking Key) code where you will be asked to enter the code for the SIM. After this, you can enter any old PIN and you will gain access to the smartphone.

Schutz also tested the feature on an up-to-date Google Pixel 5 and found out that it was not an isolated incident.

However, users do not need to worry. Google has released a security update on November 5, named CVE-2022-20465, which fixes the issue. So, if you're an Android user, make sure that the security update has been installed in your device.