{"id":4411,"date":"2025-05-19T19:19:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T03:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=4411"},"modified":"2025-05-19T19:19:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T03:19:35","slug":"what-are-zero-click-exploits","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\/","title":{"rendered":"What are zero-click exploits?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Zero-click exploits<\/strong> are <em>highly sophisticated cyberattacks<\/em> that compromise a device without any interaction from the user\u2014<em>no tapping, clicking, or opening anything<\/em>. These attacks usually target flaws in apps that handle data in the background, like messaging or calling apps. Just <em>receiving<\/em> a malicious text, call, or file can be enough to trigger the exploit.<\/p>\n<p>Because zero-clicks require <em>no action from the victim<\/em>, they\u2019re extremely hard to detect and defend against. They\u2019ve been used in <em>high-profile surveillance campaigns<\/em>, such as those involving <a href=\"\/security-center\/virus-information\/pegasus-spyware.html\"><strong>Pegasus spyware<\/strong><\/a>, and typically rely on <em>unknown or unpatched vulnerabilities<\/em> in widely used software.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zero-click exploits are highly sophisticated cyberattacks that compromise a device without any interaction from the user\u2014no tapping, clicking, or opening anything. These attacks usually target flaws in apps that handle data in the background, like messaging or calling apps. Just receiving a malicious text, call, or file can be enough to trigger the exploit. Because [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[12],"ht-kb-tag":[564,565],"class_list":["post-4411","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-threats-vulnerabilities","ht_kb_tag-zero-click","ht_kb_tag-zero-click-exploit"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What are zero-click exploits?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are zero-click exploits?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zero-click exploits are highly sophisticated cyberattacks that compromise a device without any interaction from the user\u2014no tapping, clicking, or opening anything. These attacks usually target flaws in apps that handle data in the background, like messaging or calling apps. Just receiving a malicious text, call, or file can be enough to trigger the exploit. Because [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antivirus and Security Software FAQs &amp; Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\\\/\",\"name\":\"What are zero-click exploits?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-20T03:19:35+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What are zero-click exploits?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\",\"name\":\"Antivirus and Security Software FAQs & Blog\",\"description\":\"Frequently asked questions about antivirus and security software, and other computer security related issues.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"AntivirusAZ.com FAQs & Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"AntiVirusAZ.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"AntiVirusAZ.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What are zero-click exploits?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-zero-click-exploits\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What are zero-click exploits?","og_description":"Zero-click exploits are highly sophisticated cyberattacks that compromise a device without any interaction from the user\u2014no tapping, clicking, or opening anything. These attacks usually target flaws in apps that handle data in the background, like messaging or calling apps. Just receiving a malicious text, call, or file can be enough to trigger the exploit. 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