One text can break your phone: Android's 'SMS of Death' explained

Security researcher Mark B. has found an Android flaw known as the SMS of Death, disclosed publicly on October 29. Simply receiving one specially crafted SMS can cause serious problems on your phone.

What it does

• Drops active calls
• Makes the phone temporarily lose mobile service
• If around 20 of these messages arrive, the phone can become unusable, and recovery is hard enough to need technical support

How it works

The attack uses a WAP Push SMS. Android does not show this message in your inbox; it processes it in the background, and that is where the error is triggered.

The worst part is that you don't have to do anything. There is no link to tap, no file and no phishing. The message arriving is enough.

Which phones are affected?

According to the researcher, all phones running Android 12 or later. The flaw was reproduced on a Pixel 9 and several Samsung Galaxy phones.

Is there a fix?

The flaw was reported to Google on May 5, and Google later shipped a fix in the October security patch for devices on Android 14 and later. Android now catches the error without crashing and deletes the malicious message.

According to the researcher, Android 12 and 13 will not get the fix because they are outside the security-update window.

How to check your phone

1. Open Settings
2. Go to About phone. On Samsung: About phone → Software information
3. Look for Android security update or Security patch level

If it doesn't show October 2026 or later, go to Settings → Software update and install the latest update. Menu names can vary slightly between brands.