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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Future versions of Android will be more resilient to exploits, thanks to developers' efforts to integrate the latest Linux kernel defenses into the operating system.

Android's security model relies heavily on the Linux kernel that sits at its core. As such, Android developers have always been interested in adding new security features that are intended to prevent potentially malicious code from reaching the kernel, which is the most privileged area of the operating system.

[...] One new configuration option called CONFIG_DEBUG_RODATA segments the kernel memory into multiple sections and limits how much of this memory is writeable and executable. Attackers need writeable and executable memory pages in order to inject malicious code into them via exploits, and then run that code with kernel privileges.

Another config option, called CONFIG_CPU_SW_DOMAIN_PAN, prevents the kernel from directly accessing user space memory, giving attackers even less control over where their exploits can execute code.

Also reported at The Register.

Original Submission