14 DAY TRIAL // A few days ago, Google released the January security update for all compatible Nexus and Pixel devices. The search giant published the security bulletin that contains all the fixes provided by the update, as well as the factory images for those who don't want to wait for the OTA update.
BlackBerry was the first non-Google OEM to start the rollout of January security update for its Android smartphones. The Canadian company added some of its own bug fixes that address specific issues found on BlackBerry smartphones powered by Android OS.
Today, Samsung published its own Android Security Bulletin for the month of January, which contains an additional 28 Samsung vulnerabilities. Google's original update aimed at Nexus and Pixel devices contains a total of 95 fixes.
Since OEMs are allowed to include their own, it makes sense for Samsung's January security update to contain even more patched vulnerabilities than Google's.
As expected, Samsung confirmed once again that some of the Samsung vulnerabilities and exposures might not be included in this package if they were already added in a previous maintenance release. However, that's quite unlikely to happen.
There's only one high-security issue that's been found in Samsung smartphones, which should be addressed in the patch. The exploit is said to affect Samsung handsets running Android 4.4 KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow and Nougat, and it's been reported in early November.
According to Samsung, the vulnerability discloses user credentials to sub-domain whenever users log in to an email account under certain conditions. So, the patch is meant to avoid disclosure by removing code sending user credentials.
The rest of Samsung's vulnerabilities and exposures addressed in the January security update are of low and medium severity. It's unclear when the rollout of the update will start, but we believe it will be available for many Samsung smartphones in the next couple of days.