Android Q is now Android 10. There are no more dessert-themed names for future Android versions, but that's not something Android users should really be worrying about. Besides the big announcement about the whole Android rebranding that made splashes all over the internet, Google posted an explosive note on its Android Open Source Project (AOSP) security bulletin update on Tuesday that demands more attention.
Google has confirmed that there are 193 Android security vulnerabilities that need fixing and the only way users are going to be protected is if they upgrade to Android 10. Google has rated these vulnerabilities as "moderate" in the scale of sensitivity, but they include elevation of privilege, remote code execution, information disclosure and denial of service categories.
"Android Q devices with a security patch level of 2019-09-01 or later are protected against these issues (Android Q, as released on AOSP, has a default security patch level of 2019-09-01)," said Google in its Android security bulletin.
So if you're not privileged to get Android 10 security patch that fixes nearly 200 security vulnerabilities, there's no reason to panic. Firstly, Google assured that there have been no incidents of exploitation or abuse of these vulnerabilities. Secondly, source code patches for the issues will be released to AOSP repository during Android 10 release.
According to the notice, two of the 193 vulnerabilities are in the Android runtime, the other two in the library and 24 in the framework. The rest of them are divided into the Android media framework and Android system.
But as any Android user might be aware, Google is not swift in migrating all the users to its latest OS, in this case, Android 10. Even after Google releases the official software, its partners will take longer to roll out the update after it has been optimised to work seamlessly with their custom UI.
There are many reasons to upgrade to Android 10 (Android Q) when it is available, but being protected against some serious vulnerabilities should be a top priority. Google has already made several security enhancements in its new OS, which gives users more control over the data and app capabilities.
