Last night, Google released the second Android 12 QPR3 beta, which is a preview of the major Android update expected in June, including the Pixel Feature Drop. So far, no relevant innovations are known, but the update includes a bug fix that we would have expected a few days earlier and on a broad scale: the dirty pipe vulnerability will be plugged.
Pixel users can look forward to two updates this week: the usual Android security update on Monday and the Android 12 QPR3 Beta 2 on Thursday. Both arrived at the same time on the Pixel 6 smartphones, which however need special treatment in terms of security patches this month. Because the two latest Google smartphones are affected by the dirty pipe vulnerability. Unfortunately, this was not fixed by the security update on Monday.
Now it has become known, without Google having announced it, that the vulnerability will be patched with Android 12 QPR3 Beta 2. This is very nice, but only helps users in the beta channel. It is not known whether there will be a patch for all other Pixel 6 users this month. It is quite possible that you want to test this patch with the beta rollout before it is distributed to all users. Unfortunately, the usual Google strategy: zero communication and hiding problems until they are solved.
I assume that next Monday or a week later on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday) there will be another April patch for the Pixel 6 smartphones. But we don’t know anything specific.
Here’s the exact kernel version string (thanks @daniel__hurley) pic.twitter.com/48btStulNW
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) April 7, 2022