Samsung has started releasing the November Android security updates for the Samsung Galaxy S20

Samsung has begun releasing November security updates from Android for the Samsung Galaxy S20 and other Galaxy smartphones in order to address a number of serious security vulnerabilities in the operating system.

The update follows the release of the latest Android Security Bulletin of November 2020, which contains details of the security vulnerabilities affecting all Android smartphones and not just Samsung devices.

Samsung Galaxy devices are now automatically downloading the new software update which improves camera application stability, Wi-Fi connectivity and also includes several significant security updates.

Owners of Samsung smartphones are strongly encouraged to install the new update, as nearly all the vulnerabilities it faces are either high or critical. If left unresolved, these bugs can be exploited by an attacker to achieve remote code execution, privilege escalation, or denial of service (DoS) on a vulnerable device.

Android security update

According to the Android security bulletin, the new update addresses a number of vulnerabilities in the structure of the operating system, in the multimedia structure and in the system.

There are two DoS critical bugs in the framework, two high severity privilege escalation bugs, one high severity disclosure bug, and finally one high severity DoS bug. The update also fixes a critical bug and high remote code execution in the Android media framework, as well as a high severity and moderate privilege escalation bug.

When it comes to the Android system itself, the update addresses four high severity disclosure bugs, one high severity privilege escalation bug, one high severity DoS bug, and one critical remote code execution bug. The Android Security Bulletin explains that the critical security vulnerability in the Android system component is the most serious of all the bugs fixed, saying:

“The most serious of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in the system component that could allow a nearby attacker to use a specially crafted broadcast to execute arbitrary code in the context of a privileged process.”

Although most Samsung Galaxy smartphones receive the latest security update that fixes all the bugs described above, some Galaxy devices, such as the Galaxy S10 5G, received a security patch a few days before it did not fix all the vulnerabilities present in the Android operating system.