CERT warned about security flaws of various Android operating systems
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT In, has issued a warning about over 50 security flaws affecting Android smartphones. If a malicious user takes advantage of these security flaws, they could be used to carry out harmful code, gather sensitive information, and attack the victim with denial-of-service ( DoS ) attacks. According to the cybersecurity agency, three significant Android versions are impacted by the security flaws in various components of Google's operating system ( OS ), including the Arm, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Unisoc, and others.
51 security flaws affecting the Android OS are listed in a vulnerability note published earlier this week by the CERT. The vulnerability note has received a critical severity rating from the nodal agency in charge of handling cybersecurity threats and issues. A Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures( CVE ) number has been assigned to each entry in the CERT-In.
Several recent versions of Android OS are at risk
These vulnerabilities, according to CERT-In, are present in Android 13, Android 12, Android 12L, and Android 11. Given that the source code for Android 14 was released a few days prior to the advisory's publication, it is currently unknown if it has an impact as well.
The 51 security flaws listed by CERT-In have an impact on various Android operating system components, including the Google Play system updates, Android framework, and Android system. These vulnerabilities also affect software from Arm, MediaTek, Unisoc, and Qualcomm that is not directly under Google's control.
According to CERT-In, attackers who take advantage of these vulnerabilities could increase their smartphone privileges, run arbitrary( and malicious ) code, extract sensitive data, and even launch a denial of service ( DoS ) attack.
Security patches to be urgently applied
Users should apply security patches "urgently", the agency advises, as two of these flaws — CVE-2023-4863 and CVE - 2023-4211 — could be actively exploited by attackers. These problems are related to Android's GPU memory processing processes and Google, respectively, and the Chromium engine that powers the browser.
The most recent update, which includes the October security patches, is available for Pixel smartphone users to install. Unfortunately, users of smartphones from other manufacturers will have to wait until these security flaws are fixed in a security update.
