This is why Galaxy phone owners need to install the August security update as soon as it arrives
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Back in June, the U.S. government ordered Pixel owners working for the federal government to update their phones by July 4th or stop using them. An advisory from the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) listings that are managed by CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) said "Android Pixel contains an unspecified vulnerability in the firmware that allows for privilege escalation." Privilege escalation would allow an attacker to use an app to capture information that normally would not be available to the bad actor.
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To explain this another way, the aforementioned Known Exploited Vulnerabilities listings determined that CVE-2024-32896 "may be under limited, targeted exploitation." Each CVE is a specific vulnerability or flaw that affects mobile devices when exploited by bad actors. They are assigned CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) numbers to help catalog them for software engineers who develop patches that fix the vulnerabilities.
One day before the government's July 4th deadline we told you that Google had managed to patch the flaw on all Pixel models (with the June security update) but at that time we learned that CVE-2024-32896 was also a threat on all other Android phones including Samsung's Galaxy handsets. Samsung has yet to patch its phones meaning that the flaw can still be exploited on Galaxy handsets. This is why Samsung says that it is important that users of its phones install the August security update when it comes out early next month.
The actual release date of the August security update depends on the device, country, and network provider for each individual Samsung handset although it would appear that the release for Samsung is imminent.
"After further review, this issue does impact Android platform… Pixel devices that have installed the latest security update are protected… we are prioritizing applicable fixes for other Android OEM partners and will roll them out as soon as they are available."-Google
Another troubling vulnerability that remains unpatched for all Android phones outside of Pixel models is CVE-2024-29745 which is said to be even more of a threat than CVE-2024-32896. Google told Forbes that this flaw was patched for Pixel devices in April. This CVE impacts firmware released by individual manufacturers and will need to be fixed by each one. Hopefully, Samsung includes patches for both vulnerabilities with the August security update. CVE-2024-29745 reportedly needs to work in concert with another vulnerability to wreak havoc on unpatched Android phones.
Other Android handsets might get the patches for both vulnerabilities when the stable version of Android 15 is released for each phone. Samsung wanted to have their phones patched before the Android 15 release and now it appears that this will occur. Galaxy device owners, as soon as the August security update is available for your Samsung phone, install it immediately.
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