Samsung Galaxy Note 8, S8 and S8+ now receiving March 2019 security patch in some global regions

Damien Wilde | Mar 12 2019 - 6:15 am PT

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8+ are now seeing the March 2019 security patch rollout in a few international regions for users in Taiwan, Bulgaria, Romania, Switzerland, and the Nordic regions.

This update comes as Android Pie was released for the Galaxy Note 8 last month in the very same regions, but naturally, came with the February 2019 security patch. Any Note 8 user in one of these regions should see software version N950FXXS5DSB4 come to devices via an OTA in the coming days (via SamMobile).

For anyone with the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+, this update has firmware version G955FXXU4CSB9. It’s also worth noting that the OS version is actually Android 8.0 Oreo and not Android Pie which is already out for the Galaxy S8 series in a number of global regions. We assume that this will be reflected in each region update throughout this rollout process.

For anyone not aware, the March 2019 security patch for Samsung devices includes fixes for eight critical vulnerabilities in the Android OS. That said, there have been zero reports of any of these vulnerabilities being exploited thus far.

Beyond these OS patches, the Samsung flavor of the March 2019 patch includes 11 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) item fixes. Samsung’s vulnerabilities include one whereby the Private Mode thumbnail contents could be leaked via the Gallery and allowed exposure of Secure Folder previews in the recent apps drawer.

We do expect it to rollout to other Samsung handsets in the coming weeks. If you are in one of the selected nations that are currently getting this update, simply head to the Software update panel to check if you have an OTA waiting.

For anyone in the US wondering where Android Pie is for your Note 8 handset, we are hoping to get some updates in the coming days as the Android Pie beta program is also now coming to a close, so stay tuned.