Samsung Galaxy S10 bug lets any fingerprint unlock it
UPDATE: Oct. 23, 2019, 12:06 p.m. EDT Samsung has announced to customers that it has fixed this security issue and has asked users to update their settings. Our original story is below.
The fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S10, and potentially other Samsung phones, can be defeated with a $3.46 case — but the company is already working on a fix.
The somewhat horrifying news comes via The Sun, which spoke to a British couple who discovered the bug. After fitting her Samsung Galaxy S10 in a cheap silicone case that covered the front and back of the phone, she realized that her husband was able to unlock it with ease, even though his fingerprint wasn't registered on the device.
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According to Reuters, Samsung said on Thursday that it's aware of the issue and will roll out a fix "soon."
The company claims that the issue stems from the fingerprint scanner recognizing a pattern on the silicone phone case along with the fingerprint.
It's unclear which phones are affected, but given that the S10, S10+ and the Note 10 all use an in-display, ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, it's quite possible that all these devices suffer from the same issue.
This is not the first issue with Samsung phones' ultrasonic fingerprint scanners. In April, it was discovered that they can be fooled with a 3D-printed fingerprint.
The issue is serious enough to prompt South Korea's KaKaobank to tell its customers to stop using the Galaxy S10's fingerprint scanner for logging into its services until the bug is fixed.
And even if you've never used a case on your Samsung phone, the issue is still worrying. A Samsung spokesperson told The Sun that the company recommends that users only use Samsung authorized accessories. But if a cheap plastic case is all it takes to defeat the system's security, one has to wonder if there are other bugs like this that haven't been discovered yet.
Mashable has reached out to Samsung for more information and will update the article when we hear from them.
UPDATE: Oct. 18, 2019, 8:58 a.m. CEST Samsung got back to us with the following statement: "We are investigating this issue and will be deploying a software patch soon. We encourage any customers with questions or who need support downloading the latest software to contact us directly at 1-800-SAMSUNG.”
Topics Cybersecurity Samsung
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
