Google Begins Rolling Out March Android Security Update to Nexus, Pixel Devices

Google has started rolling out its monthly Android security update for the month of March for its Nexus and Pixel devices. Alongside, Google has also published factory images and full OTA images for supported Nexus and Pixel devices.

Google Pixel and Pixel XL users can download the Nougat-based builds NOF27B. Other devices that have received the updated factory images and full OTA images include Nexus 6P with N4F26T and NUF26N builds (based on region), Nexus 5X with N4F26T build, and Nexus 9 with N4F26T build. Google has also released new N4F26T build for Pixel C and NBD92D build for Nexus 6.

Google in its latest Android security bulletin has two security patch level strings. The company says that this will provide Android partners with the flexibility to more quickly fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices. The partial security patch level string (2017-03-01) indicates that all issues associated with previous security patch level strings are addressed while the complete security patch level string (2017-03-05) indicates that all issues associated with 2017-03-01 and 2017-03-05 (and all previous security patch level strings) are addressed. Google says that all supported devices will receive a single OTA update with the Wednesday security patch level.

Google's partial security patch level string (2017-03-01) fixes 21 issues while the (2017-03-05) level string fixes 39 issues. The security bulletin says that OEM partners were notified about the issues on February 6, and source code patches for these issues will be released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository in the next 48 hours. Between the two patches Google has fixed 22 high severity issues and 11 critical problems.