Security has not always been Android's strongest point, but that doesn't mean Google will neglect it completely. Recently, the OS player patched up seven security issues on its Android 6.0 Marshmallow, two of which were considered to be critical.
The updates were released Monday, and are part of Google's recently introduced monthly patch for Android users, says Tech Times. The patch released was part of the Android Security Bulletin Release for this month.
Aside from Android 6.0, users with the Android 5.1 (Lollipop) software will also benefit from the security patch. The two main issues fixed by the tech giant were labeled as CVE-2015-6608 and CVE-2015-6609. What makes the two issues so dangerous is the fact that they can be remotely activate via media files with malicious intent.
This means that hackers could exploit these bugs if it were not addressed, it could send MMS messages and trick users to play certain media in their browser, as Computer World reports. This could lead to serious security issues.
Android users still remember the threat of another vulnerability called Stagefright when it was brought to people who had Android firmware installed into their phones. This lead to a joint effort called by Google, Samsung and LG to release regular security updates.
According to Info World, it is not surprising that researchers are looking into the Stagefright engine and other media library-related issues more carefully as this could jeopardize intensely the privacy of millions of users worldwide.
There were three other vulnerabilities that were rated as high-the Stagefright media playback engine (CVE-2015-6610), one in mediaserver (CVE-2015-6611) and one in libmedia component (CVE-2015-6612).
Google has made these security patches available via the open source project. OEMs have received the update, but it is up to the individual carriers when the update will be brought to their mobile phones.
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