The Indian government has issued a new security warning for millions of Android users with its latest bulletin courtesy, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) this month. The team emphasises that these exploits have the potential to allow attackers to gain sensitive information and execute arbitrary code on your phone.

The new vulnerabilities are a big risk for millions of Android users in the country as the risk is susceptible to versions 12, 12L, 13, 14 and the latest 15 as well. The number of phones running these versions in India should easily be over 20 million, which means the high severity ranked alert for October 11 is worth heeding for one and all.

Android Security Risk: What We Know

The CERT-In bulletin says, “these vulnerabilities exist in Android due to flaws in the Framework, System, Google Play system updates (ART and Wi-Fi subcomponent), Imagination Technologies components, MediaTek components, Qualcomm components and Qualcomm closed source components.”

The major Android phone brands use the MediaTek and Qualcomm chipsets, and these issues have a direct impact on devices running on these hardware. You can count brands like Vivo, Xiaomi, Samsung and OnePlus whose phones are affected by the major security flaw.

“Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system,” the security note explains.

Android Security Risk: What Should You Do

Most of the affected brands have issued their latest security patch which should fix the flaws. We suggest you look for the latest version for your device in the phone settings and install the update right away. If you have phones from these brands, we highly recommend you to avoid installing apps from unknown sources or click on links from unknown mails.