Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018), Galaxy J3 (2017) Receive February Security Update: Report

Samsung has rolled out the February security update to its Galaxy J3 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2018) phones. The update brings little else apart from the enhanced security but we recommend all users to download it specifically because it brings a fix for the critical PNG security bug. According to a new report, the February 2019 security patch fixes 12 vulnerabilities specific to Samsung software apart from five critical and several high risk Android OS vulnerabilities. Google claims that the February Android security update addresses a total of 42 issues and fixes vulnerabilities range from high to critical.

According to a report by SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy J3 (2017) is receiving the February security patch in South Korea only and the software version number is J330LKLU1BSA3. The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018), on the other hand, is reportedly getting the security update in Spain only for now, and the software version number to look out for is A750FNXXU1ASA4.

If you live in the compatible regions, you should receive a notification about the February security update soon. You can check the availability of the February 2019 Android security update on your phone manually by going to Settings > System update. We recommend users to update their devices under a good Wi-Fi connection and while the phone is on charge.

It is important for all Android smartphone users to install all security updates, but this one especially because it brings a fix to a critical PNG security bug. This bug could allow a hacker to seed malware by just sending a photo in PNG format, and as soon as users open the image, it triggers the exploit and allows bad actors to remotely execute arbitrary code and wreak havoc. Therefore, we recommend installing this update as soon as it arrives on your device.

To recall, the February 2019 Android security update has already been released for the Pixel smartphones, the Pixel C tablet, and the Essential Phone.