A major security flaw has been discovered in the Galaxy S10 Under-Screen fingerprint sensor, something the Korean giant touted as revolutionary when handset hit the market back in March. The flaw essentially allows any fingerprint to unlock the flagship handset with a cheap screen protector.
According to a report by the Sun newspaper, the fingerprint authentication flaw was discovered by a woman after she used a cheap gel protector on her Galaxy S10. Shortly after, she discovered how she was able to bypass the fingerprint authentication by pressing her left thumbprint over the onscreen fingerprint sensor. The issue is that she hadn’t registered her left thumbprint with the device’s fingerprint authentication system.
And that’s not all. Her suspicions were eventually confirmed when her husband was able to do the same by pressing either one of his thumbs against the phone’s on-screen fingerprint scanner. The couple then applied the screen protector gel on the Galaxy S10 of one of their relatives, and they experienced the same thing.
Past reports have indicated that certain screen protectors are not compatible with Samsung’s fingerprint sensor because they leave a small air gap that can affect the scanning process. The sensor relies on ultrasound to detect 3D ridges of fingerprints in order to recognize users.
Samsung has responded to the incident, stating that it was “aware of the case of S10’s malfunctioning fingerprint recognition and will soon issue a software patch.”
For now, third party companies including Korean bank KaKaoBank have advised users turn off the reader until Samsung rolls out a fix for the same.
The Galaxy S10 is the latest flagship from Samsung launched back in March this year. Following its official release, the company promised its technology as one of the industry’s most advanced biometric system, adding that it was, “engineered to be more secure than a traditional 2D optical scanner”
That said, the latest incident seems to suggest that might not be the case, unless Samsung permanently fixes the issue in the next patch.
