The 5G-enabled Galaxy Tab S8, Galaxy Tab S8+, and Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra are receiving the December SMR (Security Maintenance Release) with firmware version X*06BXXU3BVL2 in Europe (via). The build number may vary slightly in other markets but the content of the release shouldn’t. Samsung has already confirmed that this month’s security update contains 80 vulnerability fixes. As usual, the new SMR patches some Galaxy-specific and some generic Android bugs as part of Google’s latest ASB (Android Security Bulletin). This time around, we have 13 Galaxy-specific concerning various system apps and services, including the Telecom application, Samsung Settings, RCS call, Exynos baseband, Nice Catch, Contacts, and Phone. Two high-severity flaws in Exynos baseband allowed an attacker to remotely disable the network traffic encryption and obtain sensitive information such as IMEI. This month’s ASB patches more severe vulnerabilities, though. Google mentions five critical and no less than 60 high-severity fixes, at least two of which could lead to remote code execution. Some vulnerabilities also exposed sensitive information. Note that these are flaws in Android OS and other partner components, including those from Qualcomm, MediaTek, and more. Only devices using the affected component are vulnerable to these flaws. The latest update for the Galaxy Tab S8 trio patches all of these vulnerabilities. If you’re using any of these Samsung flagship tablets, you will get the new security update soon. You can wait for a notification about the OTA (over the air) rollout or manually check for updates from the Settings app. Simply go to the Software update menu and tap on Download and install. If you don’t see any updates today, wait a few days and check again.
The December security update will reach more Galaxy devices soon
Samsung began rolling out the December SMR to its Galaxy devices last week. It has already updated about two dozen device models to the latest security release. The company will expand it to more eligible smartphones and tablets in the coming weeks. Samsung is also rolling out Android 13 to its remaining devices. We will keep you posted with all those releases.
