Government has an ‘important’ warning for these Android and Chrome users

Android and Chrome

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued an important warning for several versions of Android operating systems and Google Chrome browser. The government security agency has found multiple security flaws within Android operating system and Chrome browser and has classified them as “High” severity.

Warning details: Android

The government body has said that the security flaws within Android can allow attackers to gain unauthorised access to sensitive information, gain privileged access and remotely execute arbitrary code on the targeted system.

The vulnerabilities affect a wide range of Android devices, including smartphones and tablets that run on Android 12, Android 12L, Android 13 and Android 14.

The government body has said that these vulnerabilities exist in Android due to flaws in the Framework, System, Kernel, Arm components, Imagination Technologies, MediaTek components, Qualcomm components and Qualcomm closed-source components.

Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow the attacker to obtain sensitive information, gain elevated privileges, remotely execute arbitrary code and cause denial of service conditions on the targeted system.

Warning details: Google Chrome

Google Chrome’s security flaw identified as “ CIVN-2024-0231” can allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system. This affects Google Chrome Stable channel versions before 127.0.6533.88/89 (for Windows, Mac) and Google Chrome Stable channel versions before 127.0.6533.88 (for Linux).

The security flaws have been found in Chrome due to the uninitialised use in dawn, Out of bounds read in WebTransport and Insufficient data validation in dawn.

What users can do

Android users can download and install the latest update that’s available for their devices. For this, head to Setting → Software update → Check for updates. Do note that the update rollout varies from OEM to OEM.

Google Chrome users can download and install the latest version available on their devices. Open Chrome and head to About Chrome by tapping the three dots at the top right corner. Chrome will automatically check for the update. Restart the browser once the update is installed.