Serbian police used Cellebrite zero-day hack to unlock Android phones

Serbian authorities have reportedly used an Android zero-day exploit chain developed by Cellebrite to unlock the device of a student activist in the country and attempt to install spyware. Cellebrite is an Israeli digital forensics company that develops tools used by law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and private companies to extract data from smartphones and other digital devices. Companies like Cellebrite commonly utilize zero-day exploits to access and extract data usually protected on locked phones. The use of this Android exploit was found by Amnesty International's Security Lab in mid-2024 during forensic research on the logs of the impacted device. The organization previously reported on cases of privacy rights abuse in Serbia in December 2024. In response to the revelations, Cellebrite announced it blocked access to its tools for the country's security services (BIA) earlier this week. After Amnesty shared its findings with Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), Google ... Read full article.