On Monday, Samsung released the February 2024 security update for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 in Europe. The company will soon push the update to the foldable duo as well as other eligible devices globally. In the meantime, it has detailed the content of the latest security patch for the Galaxy family. This month’s release contains 69 vulnerability patches, including three critical patches.
Samsung’s February update patches 69 security issues
According to Samsung‘s updated security bulletin, the February 2024 SMR (Security Maintenance Release) for Galaxy devices contains 61 Android OS patches and 8 Galaxy-specific patches. The former group of vulnerabilities exists on Android OS, meaning they affect Android products from other brands as well. The flaws are patched by Google. The Android maker patched three critical and 58 high-severity issues this month.
Google says the most severe vulnerabilities patched this month could lead to remote code execution without requiring additional execution privileges. In simpler terms, a threat actor could exploit the vulnerabilities to gain remote access to an affected Android product without the user’s knowledge or detection. Android devices updated to the February 2024 security patch no longer have these vulnerabilities and security risks.
Google’s latest ASB (Android Security Bulletin) contains four more patches. However, two of them don’t apply to Samsung products. The other two vulnerabilities have been already patched by the Korean firm on Galaxy smartphones and tablets. As far as the Galaxy-specific patches are concerned, the February SMR addresses four moderate and four high-severity vulnerabilities across the Galaxy family.
Called Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items, these issues don’t exist on Android devices from other brands. Samsung patched issues in GameOptimizer, Smart Suggestions, Auto Hotspot, bootloader, and various other system components and services in Galaxy devices. An improper authentication vulnerability in Auto Hotspot allowed adjacent attackers to connect to an affected device’s mobile hotspot without the user’s knowledge.
More Galaxy devices will get these security fixes soon
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are the first two Samsung devices to receive the February 2024 SMR with these security fixes. The Korean firm will soon roll out the update to more products. The Galaxy S24 series, Galaxy S23 series, and many other smartphones and tablets will pick up the new security release in the coming days. We will keep you posted on those rollouts. You can also check for updates from the Settings app on your Galaxy device.
2024-02-06 15:05:03