Samsung’s widely popular Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus devices should begin seeing an update soon that fixes, among other things, the recently discovered Blueborne exploit. As those who have been following news on the exploit will already know, Blueborne allows a device to effectively be hijacked via Bluetooth, without the requirement that it is either paired or scanning to pair. This latest news also follows yesterday’s report that several other Samsung devices should begin seeing the fixes but that the company’s Galaxy S8 series had been mysteriously left out for the time being. As with that previously announced update, this one is still marked as Android security patch date August 2017, which may just indicate that Samsung has implemented most of September’s fixes already and is waiting for October’s patch to swap out the date.
Aside from reducing security risks by implementing a Blueborne fix, the latest update is said to include stability improvements specifically implemented for the navigation bar and wireless charging. Beyond that, the update is said to contain further stability enhancements and bug fixes, new and improved features, and performance optimizations. No further details are provided as to exactly what problem those fixes are supposed to apply to or what performance optimizations have been implemented, although that isn’t all that uncommon with system updates. There is also no description provided as to which features have been added or improved. With that said, improvements and bug fixes are nothing to be scoffed at and the Blueborne fix, in particular, will likely come as a relief to many users.
As to the rollout schedule itself, the update appears to be starting in the Netherlands first, according to the source and has a file size of around 476 MB for the region. That means as with other updates, users will want to make sure their devices have a good charge before beginning the update process. Rollouts to other regions should begin over the next several days or weeks if they haven’t already begun to, so Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus owners shouldn’t be too concerned if they haven’t received a notification for it yet but will also want to keep an eye out for it.