Google did publish the August security bulletin for Pixels yesterday. It details all the vulnerabilities fixed this month and states that “all supported Google devices will receive an update to the 2022-08-05 patch level”. While this bulletin is usually accompanied by the update itself, it was not the case this time. By the looks of it, the company pulled the rollout at the last minute due to some bug or other issues. Interestingly, Verizon pushed an unexpected update to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro on Monday (via 9to5Google). It comes with the July security patch but sans any notable new features. The official changelog only mentions some undetailed performance improvements. The software version is identical to the previous July patch that rolled out early last month. No other Pixel has picked up this update on Verizon’s network yet. This is another indication that Google has delayed the August update for Pixels. It sent out the July patch to the Pixel 6 duo at a time when this month’s update should be rolling out. Hopefully, this delay won’t be much longer. Samsung has already released the August security update to several Galaxy smartphones. Google wouldn’t want to lag too far behind.
The August update for Pixel will fix dozens of security vulnerabilities
Google may have delayed the August security update rollout for Pixels, but we now know what vulnerabilities the latest patch fixes. The updated monthly bulletin mentions 40 Pixel-exclusive vulnerabilities, including four issues of Critical severity. These vulnerabilities concerned remote code execution flaws in the modem. Google also patched several moderate and high-severity issues with the modem. The latest release contains patches for issues related to the kernel and the camera system as well. Additionally, the August update fixes over 37 other issues that affect the entire Android ecosystem, ranging from Android 10 to Android 12L. One of those issues was labeled critical by Google, while dozens of others qualify as high-severity vulnerabilities. As said earlier, Samsung has already begun seeding these Android OS patches to its devices, along with fixes for other vulnerabilities exclusive to its products. Other Android OEMs will also roll out the August security patch to their eligible devices soon. We will let you know when Google devices pick up the latest security update.
