GhostMap Android Vulnerability Can Crash Phones
Original title: New GhostMap Android Vulnerability Can Crash Phones Permanently Without Opening an App or Granting Permissions
GhostMap flaw crashes Android phones in a loop after installing a crafted APK without permissions.
Bitdefender researchers discovered a vulnerability in Android that causes phones to enter a crash loop after installing a malicious APK. The app requires no permissions or launch. Recovery may require a factory reset.
Unconfirmed: Google has not confirmed the issue
- Affects Android 10 and later
- Caused by inconsistent APK compression handling
- No code execution or privilege escalation
- Reported to Google on August 20 and 25, 2026
- Google considers it outside security update scope
Impact: denial of service via crash loop
- 1.factory reset if affected
- 2.use ADB for recovery when possible
- Tags
- android
- Vendors
- Products
- Android
- Organizations
- Bitdefender
From the original article
2 min read at gbhackers.com
Bitdefender researchers have revealed a vulnerability called GhostMap that affects Android devices. This vulnerability can cause phones to become stuck in a continuous crash loop immediately after a specially crafted application is installed. The demonstration app contains no executable code, requests no permissions, and does not need to be launched.
By Divya · gbhackers.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.