It’s the first week of September and Google is rolling out the latest security patches for Android, announced in the September Security Bulletin.
This month there’s three levels of patch, with OEMs able to apply the one relevant for their customers. The three patches show that some Common Vulnerability and Exposures (CVE’s) – there are 7 Critical, 23 High and 17 moderate CVEs in total – were discovered after notifying partners:
- 2016-09-01: Partial security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2016-09-01 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
- 2016-09-05: Partial security patch level string. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2016-09-01 and 2016-09-05 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
- 2016-09-06: Complete security patch level string, which addresses issues that were discovered after partners were notified of most issues in this bulletin. This security patch level string indicates that all issues associated with 2016-09-01, 2016-09-05, and 2016-09-06 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed.
Obviously the 6th of September patch is the most up to date and with a critical kernel vulnerability patched in that update OEMs would be hopefully aiming for that. A High severity issue with Qualcomm devices is also a worry for those owners of devices with Qualcomm SoCs – with this patch likely related to the Quadrooter vulnerability announced last month.
The Nexus Factory Images page shows updates available for Nexus devices though the Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi/3G) hasn’t been updated yet – bring on a new 7″ Google tablet.
| Device | August | September |
|---|---|---|
| Nexus 5 | MOB30Y | MOB31E |
| Nexus 5X | MTC20F | NRD90S |
| Nexus 6 | MOB30W and MMB30R | MMB30W and MOB31E |
| Nexus 6P | MTC20F | MTC20L |
| Nexus 7 Wi-Fi | MOB30X | |
| Nexus 7 Mobile | MOB30X | |
| Nexus 9 W-Fi | MOB30W | NRD90R |
| Nexus 9 LTE | MOB30W | MOB31E |
| Nexus Player | MOB30W | NRD90R |
| Pixel C | MXC89L | NRD90R |
Nexus devices supported with security patches still, will be receiving a single OTA update to the 6th of September patch level in the coming days. If you want the OTA though you can check out the OTA links on the Nexus Files page.
Still waiting for Nougat on the Nexus 6. Quick question, when there are two available OTA updates which one do we flash? I’m currently on MOB30W
You should always flash them in sequence. If you are on MOB30W now:
You should flash MMB30W next.
Then only after that’s successful, you can flash MOB31E
Really? But they release them at the same time which is confusing. MMB30W and MOB31E were uploaded today at the same time. Same thing happened last month with MOB30W and MMB30R. I already jumped the gun and went from MOB30W straight to MOB31E. I’m rooted that’s why I do it manually with FlashFire or Nexus Rootkit. I guess I could wait for the OTA notification then go from there but I’m impatient.