IANS | 11 Feb, 2019
Google is reportedly being slammed by security experts following the
disclosure of a vulnerability that has exposed Android to the risk of
being compromised by infected images.
Revealed in Google's
February security update, the flaw leaves Android systems compromised
with a modified Portable Network Graphics (PNG) that could trick users
into viewing an infected image, Android Headlines reported on Saturday.
PNG is a raster-graphics file-format that supports lossless data compression.
The security flaw affects devices running Android 7.0 Nougat and newer versions of the software.
According
to experts, the root cause of this alarming vulnerability has been a
light approach to media content on Google's part.
The new
firmware is currently only available on the Pixel handsets and a small
number of Android One devices that run a stock version of the operating
system (OS), the report informed.
However, Google's February
security update addresses the issue, but the global rollout of the
security patch is expected to take more time.
