A new method of rooting Android devices was recently discovered by security experts. Dubbed simply as Dirty Cow, the exploit was added into the core Linux kernel way back in 2007. 

The new method was believed to work on almost every version of the mobile operating system, as well as several other hardware products.

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Security experts believe that those who use this new rooting method can bypass limitations created by manufacturers or carriers, and it can also be used to bypass security protocols of apps.

The new rooting technique involves a Linux privilege escalation bug, which was discovered last week after hackers were able to use it to hack several types of machine and Web servers.

The exploit is relatively easy to use, making it one of the worst privilege-elevation flaw ever to hit the Linux operating system.

In a statement acquired by Ars Technica, security researcher David Manouchehri said, "From what I can tell, in theory it should be able to root every device since Android 1.0. Android 1.0 started on kernel 2.6.25, and this exploit has been around since 2.6.22."

Several other security experts have also claimed that they were able to develop a different rooting exploit, but still based on Dirty Cow. They were able to do this by modifying Dirty Cow in order to work on the Android platform.

The Dirty Cow exploit has been patched already, and security experts believe that it should only be a matter of time until the same patch can be created for the Android platform.

Tagsdirty cow, hack, android hacking, Android, Android devices, linux, Linux hack, linux exploit, android exploit