Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1 finally addresses major Pixel 6 and 7 series vulnerabilities
A few weeks ago, Google’s Project Zero security research team tore the bandage off on disclosingpatched exploitsaffecting the driver for Arm’s Mali GPUs — components found in millions upon millions of Android phones. The sting, however, came from the fact that manufacturers had and still have yet to pass the patches onto their end users some five months (and counting) after Arm did its part. Google itself has had a share of the blame, but, withAndroid 13 QPR2 Beta 1, it’s well on its way to catching up and making sure that Pixel owners and everyone in Android Land remain safe.
Long story short, Arm kernel drivers currently interfacing with Mali GPUs of various architectures — including those on the Pixel 6 and 7 series — will need to be updated to release 38p1 or a revised release 39p0 for clear vulnerabilities that would’ve allowed hackers to take certain controls within the user’s device.
As Mishaal Rahman notes, Google shipped its finalized QPR1 update this month with an older driver version, r36, but switched it up to the requisite r38p1 for the QPR2 Beta 1 push.
In the initial wake of Project Zero’s blog post,Google statedthat it was actively testing Arm’s patches and that an ultimate fix could be rolled out in “coming weeks,” so there’s a decent chance this makes it out to all Pixel users — not just the ones in the QPR2 beta — with the January security patches. Other OEMs are also on notice as Google has made it clear that the new Arm driver will be required for them to meet security patch level requirements in future.
Of course, a driver update entails more than just bugfixes and it takes time for downstream partners to reconcile other issues that crop up with changes brought about with a fresh version — in this case, some of the geekier Pixel owners on QPR2 Beta 1 are essentially helping Google by doing some public testing.
Arm did its part. We just wish the whole of Android did theirs sooner. A lot sooner. If you’re curious to learn about what other tweaks and fixes are landing with this release, check out our round-up ofall the changes in QPR2 Beta 1.
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