Nokia 9 PureView Fingerprint Sensor Is Fooled by Chewing Gum

The brand new Nokia flagship with five camera modules looks pretty promising but has several significant weaknesses. Recently, it shocked the world with dangerous security flaw related to its onscreen fingerprint sensor that is tricked by non-registered patterns of other fingers and even various items such as coins or gloves.

Users noticed the first issue right after the launch. Then, Nokia’s scanner had too low sensitivity and didn’t recognize the owners’ fingerprints often.

HMD Global responded to this problem with a patch dated by 19 April. The update improved the scanner’s sensitivity and really helped people to interact with their smartphones. Too much.

As for now, the PureView has an extremely responsive sensor that recognizes not only fingerprints of owners but also other prints and material objects, e.g. chewing gum packs, coins, gloves, etc.

The problem was spotted by Twitter user Decoded Pixel. He posted a video where his Nokia 9 is unlocked with two different fingers and chewing gum

Why This Happened?

The most recent update for Android 9 Pie 4.22 includes the patch from HMD Global. Most likely, engineers didn’t improve the recognition algorithm but simply lowered the sensitivity threshold so PureView now accepts prints with a quite low original match. Phone owners mention that they can unlock the gadget with almost any touch, including random taps and fingers wrapped in cloth. Developers still didn’t react to multiple complaints.

As usual, people also joke about the issue. Reddit users mention that this is a new Nokia feature that will be available for extra money – the Gum ID. Still, we shouldn’t forget about the real danger of such flaws as frauds can easily get access to stolen phones due to identification errors. The next OTA update should fix the sensor so it’s better to disable this feature now and use traditional PIN codes or graphic patterns. As well, you can order dedicated software development Ukraine here to get extra security layers for your applications.

Balaji

BALAJI is an Ex-Security Researcher (Threat Research Labs) at Comodo Cybersecurity. Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder - Cyber Security News & GBHackers On Security.

Recent Posts

Threat Actors Exploit Google Docs And Weebly Services For Malware Attacks

Phishing attackers used Google Docs to deliver malicious links, bypassing security measures and redirecting victims…

11 hours ago

Python NodeStealer: Targeting Facebook Business Accounts to Harvest Login Credentials

The Python-based NodeStealer, a sophisticated info-stealer, has evolved to target new information and employ advanced…

11 hours ago

XSS Vulnerability in Bing.com Let Attackers Send Crafted Malicious Requests

A significant XSS vulnerability was recently uncovered in Microsoft’s Bing.com, potentially allowing attackers to execute…

14 hours ago

Meta Removed 2 Million Account Linked to Malicious Activities

 Meta has announced the removal of over 2 million accounts connected to malicious activities, including…

17 hours ago

Veritas Enterprise Vault Vulnerabilities Lets Attackers Execute Arbitrary Code Remotely

Critical security vulnerability has been identified in Veritas Enterprise Vault, a widely-used archiving and content…

18 hours ago

7-Zip RCE Vulnerability Let Attackers Execute Remote Code

A critical security vulnerability has been disclosed in the popular file archiving tool 7-Zip, allowing…

18 hours ago