March 2023 security Patch

[maverick7526]

Samdung is not outdoing Google at anything. Don't know if you remember but Google released A13 to pixels before Samdung did. I don't think any Galaxies are on the March security patch either. My friend with a Galaxy gets tons of ruthless Spam calls while I only get maybe one or two that manage to get through to my Pixel.

What does call screen have to do with a security patch?

The mar security patch at least internationally is rolling out to S23s. One of Google's selling points for the pixel was timely updates/first in line etc. However as of late, they have been faltering on the "on time" part. We can keep giving them excuses by dismissing this as NBD, or at least look at it objectively and be like "ohh hey this is becoming more common now than it ever has been in the past, what's the issue?"

 

[mustang7757]

[As a friendly reminder, please do not go at each other and keep this civil]

I did a clean up.

 

[PGrey]

I'll mention it again, just in case it got lost in my longer diatribe:

Does anyone have ANY telemetry or similar, from actual compromises that resulted in a late update(s), what-so-ever?
If so, I'm truly interested in this data, or perhaps even some anecdotal data. If not, it seems most an academic discussion/issue, and perhaps a bit pedantic?

Not trying to be confrontational here, at all, just trying to see if there are some datapoints that perhaps I've missed.

In terms of those wanting updated release dates, the industry-standard is pretty much not to publish these, given past resulting issues, and what happens if you miss those (primarily or secondarily, tertiarily, etc.).

 

[maverick7526]

I'll mention it again, just in case it got lost in my longer diatribe:

Does anyone have ANY telemetry or similar, from actual compromises that resulted in a late update(s), what-so-ever?
If so, I'm truly interested in this data, or perhaps even some anecdotal data. If not, it seems most an academic discussion/issue, and perhaps a bit pedantic?

Not trying to be confrontational here, at all, just trying to see if there are some datapoints that perhaps I've missed.

In terms of those wanting updated release dates, the industry-standard is pretty much not to publish these, given past resulting issues, and what happens if you miss those (primarily or secondarily, tertiarily, etc.).

From my anecdotal experience, Google started having issues once they switched to tensor. Pixel 2, 4 etc usually had updates on time etc. yea they would miss one here and there, but they are consistently "late" now. From about the year I had the 6pro, they were late on 5 or 6 updates, completely pulled the Dec update, and were on time 2 or 3 times I think.

They kept selling that tensor would resolve a lot of this since it's "in house" silicone etc etc. Idk, it would be interesting to see why they are always delaying updates now, however google has never been forthcoming with information.

 

[No_autorizado]

What does call screen have to do with a security patch?

The mar security patch at least internationally is rolling out to S23s. One of Google's selling points for the pixel was timely updates/first in line etc. However as of late, they have been faltering on the "on time" part. We can keep giving them excuses by dismissing this as NBD, or at least look at it objectively and be like "ohh hey this is becoming more common now than it ever has been in the past, what's the issue?"

Did they ever make a statement saying "we're going to release each update the first Monday of every month"? If they didn't do that, there's no promise being broken.

 

[maverick7526]

Did they ever make a statement saying "we're going to release each update the first Monday of every month"? If they didn't do that, there's no promise being broken .

I mean its what they have done for the last 4-5 years preceding the move to tensor pretty much. Yea there were some that were late here and there, but nothing has been this level of late consistently. From what I can see in the last ~2 years, they have botched updates more than in the 4-5 years leading up to this time. Just seems odd. The only real thing linking everything is tensor.

 

[diesel97]

Did they ever make a statement saying "we're going to release each update the first Monday of every month"? If they didn't do that, there's no promise being broken.

THIS ^^^

 

[PGrey]

Did they ever make a statement saying "we're going to release each update the first Monday of every month"? If they didn't do that, there's no promise being broken.

Yep, 110% this.

They have had a cadence, that led to expectations, but that's nothing like an actual terms/contract.

I doubt the Tensor chipset is the problem, as most of that would be abstracted through a HAL. If not, every OEM would be having issues like this. I bet the HAL and other chipset components rarely get touched, particularly for cadence-based updates, except in the case of a new issue relating to a compromise or similar. That's the whole point of having a HAL, right?

https://source.android.com/docs/core/architecture/hal

 

[Maljunulo]

Am I the only one here who is dim enough to have no idea what HAL is?

 

[PGrey]

Am I the only one here who is dim enough to have no idea what HAL is?

I wasn't expecting everyone to, that's why I pasted the link in...

Really, Android has several HALs (primary and secondary for things like camera, layering, and such), so that most h/w objects are abstracted, to keep everyone sane. They have the HIDL, AIDL, and many other abstractions (I don't understand all of them either, never worked much with Android Kernel, mostly other platforms).

I mostly mentioned this in regards to the comments about the Tensor chipset, as this is where pretty much "all things Tensor specific" are being worked on, to avoid hosing say a phone running the latest ... Gen 2 chipset. You don't want to have everyone wading through stacks involving chipsets that they don't even have on their platform, eh?

Edit: this page gives you some idea of just how many abstractions are in place in most devices, or at least most phone devices: https://source.android.com/reference/hidl

 

[maverick7526]

Yep, 110% this.

They have had a cadence, that led to expectations, but that's nothing like an actual terms/contract.

I doubt the Tensor chipset is the problem, as most of that would be abstracted through a HAL. If not, every OEM would be having issues like this. I bet the HAL and other chipset components rarely get touched, particularly for cadence-based updates, except in the case of a new issue relating to a compromise or similar. That's the whole point of having a HAL, right?

https://source.android.com/docs/core/architecture/hal

I understand what you are saying, but they could remedy any issue but just saying

"Hey we found some issues and were going to delay this to later in the month"

Google doesn't really have a great track record when it comes to being forthcoming when something is wrong. It's like the Dec 21 update. It was literally bricking phone connections, for some users and they didn't say anything until the day before a holiday to try and minimize the damage it was doing.

 

[No_autorizado]

I understand what you are saying, but they could remedy any issue but just saying

"Hey we found some issues and were going to delay this to later in the month"

Google doesn't really have a great track record when it comes to being forthcoming when something is wrong. It's like the Dec 21 update. It was literally bricking phone connections, for some users and they didn't say anything until the day before a holiday to try and minimize the damage it was doing.

Again, there's nothing to delay since they never said when they would release the updates. What is it about that you aren't understanding?

 

[mustang7757]

Again, there's nothing to delay since they never said when they would release the updates. What is it about that you aren't understanding?

I think Maverick was referring to this

https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/pixel

 

[mustang7757]

This is why some are worried why Google not more transparent when it doesn't happen.

 

[Davidoo]

I think Maverick was referring to this

https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/pixelView attachment 352053

Exactly, I knew they had published it. Thanks for finding it. It just bothers me that they are so secretive when it is late. As I've mentioned before, I buy Pixels because of the timely security updates. What is so difficult for them to say why it is late and an ETA? Not sure why some want to make an excuse for this giant company that has the resources to get it right.

 

[maverick7526]

Again, there's nothing to delay since they never said when they would release the updates. What is it about that you aren't understanding?

A little communication would go a long way. I have no problems waiting for the feature drop/security patch, just say what's up that's all.

Everyone saying "ohh just wait it'll be more stable", yet half the time they do a feature drop and it's delayed it just introduces more issues. It kind of doesn't matter sometimes, as a delayed update/on time one still has the same amount of issues.

 

[mustang7757]

Exactly, I knew they had published it. Thanks for finding it. It just bothers me that they are so secretive when it is late. As I've mentioned before, I buy Pixels because of the timely security updates. What is so difficult for them to say why it is late and an ETA? Not sure why some want to make an excuse for this giant company that has the resources to get it right.

True , Google should post a bulletin under that saying March update is delayed or something to that matter.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[idiotekniques]

Big fan of the pixels especially the seven pro now because the six was definitely a disappointment. But Google is getting pretty terrible with these updates. If you can't even update your own phones on schedule what the hell is going on?

 

[Super Spartan]

Big fan of the pixels especially the seven pro now because the six was definitely a disappointment. But Google is getting pretty terrible with these updates. If you can't even update your own phones on schedule what the hell is going on?

yeah but somehow all other manufactures get the updates before us. That defies one of the biggest selling points of getting Pixels, to be the first on the updates bandwagon.

 

[gendo667]

There are so many things I wanna say right now but I don't wanna upend my good standing in the forums. I like this place, but I'm biting my tongue over here.

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