It’s the start of 2018, and it bears noticing that Google has not flagged in its efforts to provide users with a secure Android experience. The monthly Android Security Bulletin started in late 2016 when the Stagefright vulnerability was made public. Since then, Google has provided monthly security updates on the dot. The January 2018 security patch is now rolling out.
The January 2018 Android Security Bulletin is now rolling out. This will arrive as an OTA update for Pixel and supported Nexus phones, and will be the basis for other manufacturers and OEMs for their own security patches. Critical fixes in this update involve the never ending battle against hackers who might want to exploit the media stack of your device, with the patch fixing the possibility gaining remote control over a device via a maliciously crafted media file.
Google has also recently started putting out a separate Pixel/Nexus specific security patch – for issues specifically found in those phones. This will also roll out to Nexus and Pixel phones as an OTA. The highlight fixes for this update are also in the media framework, which is not unexpected.
You can either wait for the OTA to arrive for your Nexus or Pixel phone, or if you want to do something radical, you can flash the factory images. The latter will of course wipe out your phone and all the data in it, so please understand what you’re doing before you flash the images, which can be downloaded from Google’s official download page.
SOURCE: Android
“you can flash the factory images. The latter will of course wipe out your phone and all the data in it, so please understand what you’re doing before you flash the images” … is there a reason why you don’t point people to the full OTA images instead? then they can adb sideload without having to unlock their bootloader or wipe their data? They’re here instead: https://developers.google.com/android/ota
(i’ll try to get the factory images page itself updated with this same suggestion…)