Each month we talk about Google’s Android Security Bulletin, but these aren’t the only vulnerabilities that get patched.
Google helps OEMs by taking care of the patches which are specific to the core Android platform, but that’s not all there is to it ― many smartphone manufacturers add their own skin and some even make major changes to the platform itself so that they can implement the features they want. These changes can also add vulnerabilities, and this is part of why we see other smartphone companies releasing their own Android Security Bulletin each and every month, so we are also seeing BlackBerry and Samsung release their summary of patches for the month of January: On top of the patches Google announced , Samsung is patching over 15 vulnerabilities with their Android security update for January.
Only one of these vulnerabilities has been marked with a high severity level, with the rest being considered medium or low. These have all been privately disclosed, with some dating all the way back to May, but they will be patched in this month’s security update. As with all monthly security updates, Samsung is unable to give us a list of which devices will be receiving the update, nor can they tell us when owners of Samsung devices can expect to see this update pushed to them.
On the other hand, BlackBerry doesn’t give us individual lists to show us what vulnerabilities they’re patching from Google, and which ones they have found specific to the BlackBerry platform. However, they do tend to do a better job when it comes to delivering these updates and have told us that updates are pushed out immediately to those devices that were purchased from their Shop BlackBerry website. Those who purchased directly from a carrier, though, will have to wait until the update is certified and pushed out by the carrier.
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Source: SamsungSource: BlackBerry