An Android flaw can trap a phone in endless restarts. Back up work phones this week

By Carl Pugh · Published 5 November 2026

What happened

Security company Bitdefender has found an Android flaw it calls GhostMap. A specially made app can put a phone into a loop of endless restarts, and it also blocks Safe Mode, which is normally how you'd get out of trouble. The app doesn't need any special permissions and doesn't even need to be opened.

Bitdefender found it while studying banking malware that kept crashing its test phones, and reported it to Google in August. Google says it isn't serious enough for a security update, though it may fix it in a future release. There's no sign yet that criminals are using it.

For most people, the only way out is a factory reset, which wipes everything stored on the phone.

Why it matters to you

For a small business, a work phone often holds the authenticator app for every account, customer contacts, photos of jobs and WhatsApp conversations. If it has to be wiped, anything that isn't backed up is gone.

Because Google isn't issuing a fix, the protection is in your hands, and the moment that matters is when an app gets installed.

What to do this week

For every Android phone used for work

1. Check backups are switched on and working, including photos, contacts and messages.
2. Make sure your authenticator app is backed up, or that every account has a second way to sign in, so losing one phone doesn't lock you out.
3. Only install apps from Google Play, and leave the setting to install unknown apps switched off.
4. Keep Google Play Protect switched on and phones up to date, so you get Google's fix if one arrives.

If you manage company phones

1. Use your device management tool to block apps from outside Google Play, if it can.
2. Write down how you'd get someone working again on a replacement phone the same day.

If it happens to you

If a phone gets stuck restarting, call your IT provider before you factory reset it, in case there's another way to recover it. Then restore from backup and sign back in. My guides on backing up and testing a restore and multi-factor authentication cover the setup that turns this into a minor problem.