Samsung is currently rolling out an update that will install the November 1, 2017 Android security patch to the units of the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) in the United Arab Emirates. Included in the patch are fixes for six remote code vulnerabilities found in both the media framework and the system portion of Google’s operating system. However, the level of the Android security patch that Samsung is currently deploying does not resolve the KRACK vulnerability, a security issue that allows an attacker to access the data transmitted by the user to a Wi-Fi network and the fix for this vulnerability is included in the November 6 version of the security patch. In addition, six exploits found in Samsung’s proprietary skin will also be fixed with the software upgrade.
The update is now being distributed automatically and it may take several days before it is received by all devices. Users may also trigger the installation process manually by going to the device settings and proceeding to the “Software Update” menu. Before the update is installed, it is important to check if there is enough free space in the internal flash storage to temporarily keep the software package. In addition, the battery of the device should have sufficient charge to last the entire procedure and the contents of the smartphone should be backed up to a personal computer or a microSD card to prevent loss of data.
The Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) is powered by the Exynos 7880 chipset which is comprised of an octa-core ARM Cortex A53 64-bit CPU clocked at up to 1.9GHz and the Mali-T830MP3 GPU. The device sports a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 by 1080. The screen is protected against scratches by a sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass 4, and below it is the fingerprint scanner that is embedded into the home button. Inside the handset are 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal flash storage that can be expanded by a microSD card with capacities of up to 256GB. Both the rear and front cameras of the handset are equipped with a 16-megapixel sensor with an aperture size of f/1.9. The handset originally shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, although it was later upgraded to Android 7.0 Nougat.