Indian Govt issues high risk warning for Android Users, Advises to update phone as soon as possible

The Indian government has issued a high risk warning for Android users about multiple vulnerabilities found in the several versions of the operating system. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has labeled it as ‘high severity’ and reported that multiple vulnerabilities have been found in Android that pose security risk.

According to CERT-In, the hackers and cyber criminals can exploit these vulnerabilities to steal sensitive information(like passwords, photos, and financial data), gain control of vulnerable devices and make the device unusable, or disrupt operations. They could also install malicious software on the device.

“Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Android which could be exploited by an attacker to obtain sensitive information, gain elevated privileges and cause denial of service on the targeted system”, says the official note released by Cert-in.

The vulnerabilities are detected in smartphones with Android versions 10, 11, 12, 12L and even 13.

As per the agency, the vulnerability could be caused by flaws in the Framework, Android Runtime, System Component, Google Play system updates, Kernel, Arm components, MediaTe components and Qualcomm closed-source components.

List of all the vulnerabilities highlighted by CERT-In:
– CVE-2020-29374
– CVE-2022-34830
– CVE-2022-40510
– CVE-2023-20780
– CVE-2023-20965
– CVE-2023-21132
– CVE-2023-21133
– CVE-2023-21134
– CVE-2023-21140
– CVE-2023-21142
– CVE-2023-21264
– CVE-2023-21267
– CVE-2023-21268
– CVE-2023-21269
– CVE-2023-21270
– CVE-2023-21271
– CVE-2023-21272
– CVE-2023-21273
– CVE-2023-21274
– CVE-2023-21275
– CVE-2023-21276
– CVE-2023-21277
– CVE-2023-21278
– CVE-2023-21279
– CVE-2023-21280
– CVE-2023-21281
– CVE-2023-21282
– CVE-2023-21283
– CVE-2023-21284
– CVE-2023-21285
– CVE-2023-21286
– CVE-2023-21287
– CVE-2023-21288
– CVE-2023-21289
– CVE-2023-21290
– CVE-2023-21292
– CVE-2023-21626
– CVE-2023-22666
– CVE-2023-28537
– CVE-2023-28555

How to protect your Android device from these vulnerabilities? 

CERT-In has advised users to update their phones ro the latest security patches as soon as possible to keep the device safe.

To keep your Android devices safe, CERT-In recommends that users should update their devices to the latest security patches as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Google has already released security patches to solve these vulnerabilities. Users can get the details by checking the ‘Android Security Bulletin-August 2023’.

So, if you are worried then look if your device has been updated to the latest security patches, if not then follow the steps below to update it.

How to check updates for your Android phone:

Step-1: Go to settings.
Step-2: Tap on system.
Step-3: Tap on system updates.
Step-4: If there is an update available, tap on Download
Step-5: After downloading is complete, it will Install.
Step-6: Follow the instructions to complete the update.