An old Bluetooth vulnerability shows why it is vital that all OS’s get updated regularly

Person in a hoodie sitting behind a laptop computer. Their face is completely obscured though, and a question mark appears in the space where their face is.

Bluetooth vulnerability exposes Android, Linux, MacOS, and iOS devices. Hackers can access your device without special hardware and run commands without your consent.

Security fix for Android 11 through 14 available, but older versions remain vulnerable. ChromeOS has been patched, but Linux-based OSs are still prone to hacking.

Some OS’s update better, or are supported longer, than others. This is where Android especially suffers, as many phones only got two years of OEM updates.

If you have an Android, in particular, a bad actor could access your device if Bluetooth is simply enabled. The hack is possible on Linux if Bluetooth is discoverable, and iOS and MacOS devices that have Bluetooth enabled with a paired Magic Keyboard are vulnerable as well.

It requires nearby access, though, so this may not be very high risk unless you regularly attend conferences and spend a day sitting in such a place.

One also wants to choose new purchases to also include the consideration around how long a device will get updates in future.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/android-ios-linux-macos-bluetooth-vulnerability/