Google has outlined four key kernel hardening features its engineers have backported from upstream Linux to Android kernels on devices that ship with Android 8.0 Oreo.
They will benefit “all Android kernels supported in devices that first ship with this release”, according to Sami Tolvanen, a senior software engineer on the Android Security team.
The new kernel protections should also help developers who are responsible for building Android hardware drivers detect kernel security bugs before shipping them to users.
