Lock screen flaw found in Android

A security flaw in Android that lets people bypass the lock screen on a mobile device has been discovered by researchers at the University of Texas.

They found that trying to unlock the phone or tablet with an abnormally long password caused the lock screen to crash in certain conditions.

The flaw was limited to Android Lollipop, the most recent version of the mobile operating system.

Google issued a patch for its Nexus devices on Wednesday.

About 21% of Android users run affected versions of the operating system.

After crashing the lock screen, the researchers were able to access the phone's data and apps.

The vulnerability could not be exploited if people had chosen a lock pattern or Pin code instead of a password.

While Google is rolling out its fix for Nexus, other phone manufacturers are responsible for distributing the software to their own handsets.

On releasing the patch, Google said it had not yet detected anybody exploiting the flaw.