Google has released an update to Android 8.0 and 8.1 to fix a bug that prevented users from calling 911 when a certain version of Microsoft Teams was installed. Google hasn’t updated Android 8 for years, but is now making an exception.
The bug came to light in late November, when a Pixel 3 user reported that she was unable to call 911 on Android 11. In a response in December, the official Pixel account wrote on Reddit that it was aware of the issue on Android 10 and above and that it was caused by a particular version of Microsoft Teams. In its most recent security bulletin, Google reports that it has addressed the bug, labeled CVE-2021-39659. Later it turned out that the bug also affected older versions.
If someone was not logged in with the Microsoft Teams app, but had it installed, the bug prevented the service that makes it possible to call the emergency number. As a result, in some cases it was not possible to call 112, 911 or 999. Google is talking about a denial of service bug.
Technology editor Mishaal Rahman of The Android Edge newsletter and Esper found that the update is also coming to Android users with Android 8.0 and 8.1, as the bug affects older versions of Android as well. Google has stopped updating Android 8.0 and 8.1 for a while, but makes an exception for this bug, as it affects a critical service, writes Rahman on Twitter† In a blog post he explains how the bug could have arisen. Microsoft already released an update of the Teams app in December that should solve the problem. Google writes that the bug in version 1416/1.0.0.2021194504 of the Microsoft Teams app has been fixed.