The European units of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 are picking up the August SMR (Security Maintenance Release) with firmware version F711BXXU2CVG8. This build number suggests the device may be getting more than just the latest vulnerability fixes. While we don’t have a changelog handy to confirm that, there’s little hope the device is gaining any new features or user-facing changes. There may be some performance optimizations at best. Samsung would introduce a few new features to its foldables with One UI 4.1.1 that will debut with the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 next week. The 2021 foldable models should get those features with a subsequent update. A bigger feature update will follow later this year when the Korean firm rolls out One UI 5.0 based on Android 13. Nonetheless, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is receiving dozens of vulnerability fixes with the August SMR. Samsung’s updated monthly security bulletin mentions fixes for over 60 issues. The majority of these issues were found on Android OS and were patched by Google. But the Korean firm is also seeding patches for 31 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items, which are security flaws exclusive to its devices. Among the SVEs patched this month is a critical issue caused by improper input validation in baseband, allowing attackers to cause integer overflow to heap overflow. Samsung has also patched several high and moderate severity vulnerabilities with the August SMR. Some of them allowed arbitrary code execution while others enabled attackers to access files with system privilege.
The August security update reaches the Galaxy Z Flip 3
Samsung began seeding the August SMR to its devices last week. The Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, Galaxy Note 20, and Galaxy Z Flip 5G have already received the update. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is also now joining the party too. The initial rollouts for most of these devices are limited to select markets. But it’s only a matter of time before the updates go global. If you’re awaiting the August security update on any of these Samsung devices, your wait shouldn’t be much longer now. Watch out for notification about the OTA (over the air) rollout. You may also manually check for updates from the Settings app on your phone.
