On account of the two critical vulnerabilities, the August 2025 Android Security Bulletin covers fixes for six Android issues. Included in these issues is a critical flaw that could have allowed an attacker to execute code on a victim’s device with zero interaction from the victim.
Last month was the first time in almost a decade that Google did not release its monthly security update. Usually, there are dozens of vulnerabilities resolved each month, so this omission was both surprising and somewhat worrying. Meanwhile, Google announced that its AI Big Sleep system had identified 20 vulnerabilities across different open-source projects.
August updates apply to Android 13, 14, 15, and 16. Android vendors are notified of all the issues at least a month before publication; however, that does not guarantee patches will be out there for all devices immediately. Users can go to Settings and check for their device’s Android version number, Security update level, and Google Play System level. Notifications will pop up once the update is out, but the user can also trigger the mechanism manually.
Typically, the process goes as follows: either under About phone or About device, users have to tap Software updates to check if fresh updates are available, but there might be some slight variations depending abundantly on the brand, type, and Android version of the device.
If an Android phone shows a patch level of 2025-08-05 or beyond, users can therefore consider the issues to be fixed. Keeping a device up-to-date, therefore, is very necessary for defense against known vulnerabilities, security, and safety. The critical RCE vulnerability, a very high-priority patch identified as CVE-2025-48530, is a flaw in the Android System that can be exploited by remote code execution when chained with other bugs, allegedly without requiring further execution privileges. It is a very high-priority patch since only Android version 16 is affected, whereas it poses a severe threat, allowing attackers to take control over the affected devices.
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