If you use an Android phone, you must check your settings immediately.
Anyone with an Android phone in their pocket would be wise to check the settings immediately and download the very latest update from Google. This urgent alert has been issued after a number of worrying bugs were discovered within this popular operating system that could leave users open to attack from hackers.
A total of 55 glitches have been fixed in this latest release, with two – named CVE-2024-50302 and CVE-2024-43093 – being given the dreaded ‘zero-day’ rating. For those not in the know, ‘zero-day’ means hackers are already aware of the issue and are exploiting it in the wild. That’s why this latest update is so serious and why experts are saying it’s critical to upgrade.
“It’s critical that all Android users update their devices immediately, as two critical security flaws are currently being exploited by criminals,” said Adam Boynton, Senior Security Strategy Manager EMEIA at software firm Jamf. “CVE-2024-43093 affects Android’s underlying framework while CVE-2024-50302 affects Android’s kernel.
“CVE-2024-43093 is the more severe flaw of the two as it allows cybercriminals to gain unauthorised access to ‘Android/data,’ ‘Android/obb,’ and ‘Android/sandbox’ directories and gain control over sensitive operations.”
Google has also said that one of the new vulnerabilities is “severe” and explained that it “could lead to remote code execution with no additional execution privileges needed”. Translated into plain talk, that means bad actors could – in theory – gain access to sensitive information on your device. That’s a worrying issue but once the update is downloaded all devices will be safe again.
How to make sure you stay safe
Google pushes security updates to its own Pixel smartphones monthly, and usually first. If you own a Samsung, OnePlus, Honor, Oppo or Xiaomi phone, you may be waiting a little longer, as these and other Android manufacturers have to implement the security changes themselves before sending out the fix to phones.
To check if your phone is ready for an update simply head to the settings and check for software upgrades. If your device says it needs updating it’s recommended that you do it immediately to stay safe.