The US government has issued a dire warning to employees with Pixel phones, mandating a security update by July 4, as originally reported by Forbes. This is due to a high-severity firmware vulnerability within the Android operating system that could open up devices to “limited, targeted exploitation.”
There’s already a patch for the zero-day exploit but it requires a visit to the settings app to make sure the device is up to date. Government employees who do not install the security update by July 4 must “discontinue use of the product.” It should go without saying that the rest of us should also heed these warnings, particularly those who connect to enterprise servers.
Google has remained mum as to the actual details of the vulnerability, but government involvement makes it seem a bit more serious than your average exploit. The federal mandate is directed exclusively at Pixel devices, but it looks like the exploit could extend to other Android phones.
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