Move over Heartbleed, there's a new ominously named digital threat that has the potential to engulf hundreds of millions of people. It's called Stagefright, and the information security community fears that 950 million Android phones are at risk of succumbing to the exploit.

While most Android hacks at least require victims to make some kind of mistake, like getting tricked into downloading malware, the Stagefright vulnerability could already be on nearly a billion Android phones regardless of what users do. And what's the real culprit behind a vulnerability this huge (besides the hackers of course)? The ongoing issue of Android fragmentation.

Break a Leg

According to Israeli enterprise mobile security company Zimperium, it's frighteningly easy for Stagefright to infect your phone. At fault is a recently detected flaw in Google's open source media library code, that allows attackers to execute code on your device just by sending you a text message. The Stagefright vulnerability could be used to put a phone and its data at the mercy of an attacker. Contacts, camera, microphone, and photos are under the hacker's control. Again, this can all happen completely under your nose. There are no external signs that the breach is occurring.

There are a few ways to protect yourself from Stagefright. In the Hangouts app go to Settings, select SMS, make Hangouts your default SMS app, and uncheck the box for "Auto-retrieve MMS." Now you can screen incoming MMS messages and avoid downloading anything suspicious. But while this may permanently prevent secret infestations, it's not a complete solution. You could still accidentally read a malicious text in a regular SMS app.

For a visual explanation, check out this diagram from Checkmarx, a company that provides code security analysis to make sure mobile apps in development are safe from exploits like Stagefright.

Split Personality

Unfortunately, the most foolproof ways to prevent attackers from exploiting Stagefright are out of reach for the vast majority of Android owners. If you have a Google Nexus phone or any other device running stock Android, you've probably already received an update that squashes the exploit. However, if your phone doesn't have access to the most recent updates, you'll be left vulnerable for who knows how long. There's nothing you can do. It's enough to make you want to root your phone and fix the problem yourself. Or buy an iPhone.

Stagefright is dangerous, but it's also frustrating because there's no reason it should have become such a large-scale risk. While it would've been nice if the vulnerability was discovered and dealt with earlier in development, at least Google quickly issued a patch for the bug. However, because Android is so fragmented, with so many different devices running their own slightly tweaked version of the mobile operating system, countless users won't be safe until the fix trickles down to them through the lethargic hardware manufacturers, if they even receive the fix at all. You can argue Android's openness gives it freedoms and benefits iOS lacks, but this is a case where the best thing for everyone would be for Google to have more control over its platform.

Stagefright will surely receive some attention at Black Hat next week. For more on the upcoming computer security conference make sure to keep reading PCMag.com.