Google Fixes Another 40 Security Bugs in Android's April Update

In this month's Nexus Security Bulletin, Android's de-facto security update, Google fixed 40 security bugs, 15 of which were labeled as critical, the company's highest security rating.

The most important change included with this release is an update Google announced through its first-ever Android Security Advisory, which it published on March 18.

This specific issue has to do with a security flaw discovered in Android devices running versions 4.4.4 and higher, and it would have allowed attackers to root the device, even permanently compromising it.

A quick patch was shipped to OEMs back in March, and now Google is delivering a better fix to prevent future exploitation of this issue.

Google fixes record number of security flaws

Besides this, Google also addressed multiple remote code execution (RCE) bugs in the DHCPCD service, in the Media Codec, and the almost standard monthly RCE fixes to the Mediaserver component and libstagefright library.

Additional patches for two other elevation of privilege issues rated as critical were also included for the Android Kernel and the Qualcomm Performance Module.

Probably the most intriguing of all the bugs is the one in the DHCPCD component, which allows malicious apps to leverage its deep integration with various internal Android features and execute code on unpatched devices within the context of the DHCP client, which most apps don't have.