Android: October 2021 patch fixes 41 security vulnerabilities

Google has just launched the deployment of the October 2021 Android security patch. With this monthly patch, the Mountain View firm fills a total of 41 security vulnerabilities, including three critical breaches.

True to form, Google has published Android security bulletin on its official website this October 4, 2021. This month, Mountain View engineers fixed 41 security flaws in the operating system. In detail, Google has filled 3 gaps deemed critical. The remaining 38 flaws are considered serious by the research giant.

To set the level of dangerousness of the identified flaws, Google relies as always on the CVSS scale. More serious flaws are those that allow a hacker to take control of a phone without physical access, or even without user action. Obviously, Google also takes into account the direct consequences of exploitation fault for users.

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The first critical flaw mentioned by Google could allow a hacker torun code on your smartphone remotely. To achieve this, however, the attacker must grant himself a series of Android permissions. Permissions determine which apps can use specific phone features. To obtain users’ consent, the malware deployed by hackers do not hesitate to lie to Internet users, claiming they need access under spurious grounds.

The second critical flaw was found in Qualcomm’s WLAN component. This WiFi module suffers from a flaw that could theoretically let an attacker interfere with the network by dragging packets arbitrarily. Ultimately, the hacker could deploy various types of attacks, including distributed denial of service attacks (Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS). The last critical flaw in October once again concerns a Qualcomm WLAN module. It would allow a hacker to seize information without the knowledge of users.

All the breaches mentioned by Google concern smartphones running Android 8.1, Android 9, Android 10 and Android 11. None of the flaws have yet been exploited. To check if the October patch is already available on your Android smartphone, simply go to the menu of Settings, then go to About the device, and in Software update. If an update is available, click Start the update.