March 2019 security patch details confirmed by Samsung

Samsung has now confirmed the details of the March 2019 security patch. The latest security maintenance release should start making its way to compatible devices in the coming days. As expected, it brings bug fixes from both Google and Samsung.

We have seen in recent months that one or two devices actually get the new patch even before it’s detailed by Samsung. That happened last week when we reported on firmware being available for the Galaxy M20 with the March 2019 patch.

March 2019 security patch brings bug fixes

The security maintenance release for March 2019 includes patches for eight critical vulnerabilities found in the Android OS. That’s in addition to the dozens of high-risk and a single moderate-risk vulnerability patched with this release. The most severe Android OS vulnerability fixed could enable a remote attacker to use a special file to run arbitrary code in the context of a privileged process.

However, Google received no reports of active customer exploitation or abuse of the reported issues which have now been patched. Also included in this release are patches for 11 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items. Samsung’s vulnerabilities include one which leaked Private Mode thumbnail contents in Gallery and allowed exposure of Secure Folder preview in recent apps.

Samsung will now get down to the business of rolling out this security patch to compatible devices. We should expect that to happen over the next couple of weeks. Its flagship handsets will most likely be the first to receive the March 2019 security patch.