Google has started rolling out its August 2021 Android security update, addressing more than 30 security vulnerabilities in the world’s most popular smartphone operating system. In its latest Android security bulletin, Google explained that the first security patch level dated 2021-08-21 fixed twelve issues in Android, including high-severity vulnerabilities in the Framework, Media Framework, and System components. The most severe of these issues could enable a local malicious application to bypass operating system protections that isolate application data from other applications.
“The severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are turned off for development purposes or if successfully bypassed,” Google explained.
Security patch level 2021-08-05, which typically contains patches for vendor components and the Linux kernel, addressed 24 vulnerabilities.
These included flaws in kernel components, the Widevine DRM, and bugs within vendor components from manufacturers MediaTek and Qualcomm.
For MediaTek’s components, the Android team fixed 8 high-severity vulnerabilities in the asf extractor, flv extractor, and Wi-Fi driver.
The fixes for Qualcomm included two critical and one high-severity issue in the WLAN component, as well as vulnerabilities in the kernel and display components.
There were also three critical and three high-severity vulnerabilities in closed-source Qualcomm components.
Google notifies Android partners of these types of security issues at least a month before publication.
This allows original equipment manufacturers who use Android — like Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo — to merge, test, and adapt the updates for their own devices.
The August security patch has been rolled out to the company’s own Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, and Pixel 5 smartphones and certain Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
To check whether an update is available for your smartphone or tablet, navigate to the Software Update section of your Settings app and check for the latest updates.
In other news – Connie Ferguson’s last words to her late hubby Shona
The late Shona Ferguson’s funeral is underway and streaming live on YouTube. The emotional audio of his wife Connie Ferguson was played, In the heartbreaking audio, Connie said she feels like all of this is just a dream.
Never in a million years will I have thought that we, In this position that I am in today, speaking as I am today without your physical presence. Learn more
Source: mybroadband
