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Security
Android receives security patches on a monthly basis. These patches are summarized in a monthly security bulletin and released via either AOSP patches for open-source components, or binary updates for closed-source components.
There are mainly three kinds of security updates from Android:
- Platform patches
- Kernel patches
- Blob updates
Maru OS pulls these security patches from upstream according to the following policy:
For devices that still receive official security updates, Maru OS will merge in all security updates.
For devices that have had their official security update periods expire, Maru OS will still merge in the latest platform patches as usual since these are device-independent, provided they have been made available upstream for Android versions that still support the device. Kernel patches cannot be merged since upstream will not backport patches for the device anymore. And of course, closed-source blobs cannot be updated unless the vendor makes them available...which is almost certainly not the case for devices out of their support period.
Here's a summary table:
| Device | Last Official Security Update | Receives platform patches? | Receives kernel patches? | Receives blob updates? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nexus 7 (2013) | August 5, 2016 | YES | NO | NO |
| Nexus 5 | October 5, 2016 | YES | NO | NO |
To check your device's patch level, go to Settings > About phone > Android security patch level.
Please keep in mind that the patch string must be evaluated in terms of the device policy above. That is, if your Nexus 5 shows "January 5, 2017" as the patch level, be aware that it is not guaranteed to have kernel patches or blob updates past it's last upstream security update on October 5, 2016. Another way of saying this is, Nexus 5 has all platform security patches up through January 5, 2017, but only has kernel and blob patches up through October 5, 2016.