Have you noticed that there have been a swarm of One UI 8 leaks in recent times? That’s no coincidence. A loophole in Samsung’s OTA update system allowed for leaks of internal builds to come to light publicly. Well, not for much longer it seems, as Samsung’s security team has been alerted of the vulnerability and has taken measures to patch it out. Let’s break this down.
How did internal builds leak?
To understand the situation fully, you first need to understand how these builds leaked out in the first place.
A community made C# tool allowed a user to interact with Samsung’s Firmware Over-The-Air (FOTA) servers, and with the right information, could access internal development builds. It also allows users to decrypt firmware info found using a popular tool like CheckFirm.
This had paved way for many One UI 8 leaks from many outlets, including us at SammyGuru, such as the redesigned apps, improvements to Secure Folder, an overhaul to Samsung DeX, and much more. It gave the Samsung community hope, in a time where One UI 7 development had dragged on for months, and users lost faith in Samsung’s ability to deliver meaningful updates.
Why was it reported?
As time progressed on, more and more people jumped on board to internal builds. Creators on various platforms were getting thousands of likes and views, and leakers were pumping out one new discovery after another. One UI 8 Watch was also leaked this same way, which led to the discovery of the redesigned tile system.
It was getting extremely popular. And all it takes is one report for the whole operation to fall apart, and there was more than one. Fellow SammyGuru writer Gerwin discovered the latest report from someone dubbed Farlune, who presumably received compensation for the discovery. Here is the message Farlune seemingly sent to the Samsung’s security team.
Dear Samsung Security Team,
I would like to report a possible security and confidentiality breach involving the unauthorised access and distribution of internal OTA test builds.
A .cs (C#) source file is circulating which appears to interact directly with Samsung’s OTA servers.
The file is capable of retrieving internal test firmware and uses a method compatible with tools like CheckFirm to decrypt metadata or access pre-release firmware, potentially bypassing standard access controls.
The tool may be leveraging:
- Internal URLs or endpoints related to FOTA
- Key decryption logic embedded in the .cs file
- App signatures or tokens meant for internal use only
This poses a significant risk as builds meant for internal testing are being accessed and shared publicly (e.g., on Telegram or forums), violating confidentiality and potentially exposing unpatched software.
If you’d like, I can share more technical details or code excerpts privately, without disclosing anything publicly or violating terms.
Please let me know the best way to proceed securely.
This is a major blow to the entire Samsung enthusiast community. On one hand, Samsung reserves the right to keep their development progress confidential. But at the same time, it gave the community hope, at a time where that was dwindling. It also gave an insight into the fantastic additions Samsung was adding with One UI 8.
TL;DR: Don’t expect many One UI 8.5 leaks in the future. Of course, we’ll still keep you up to date on everything related to Samsung updates as soon as news breaks. Unfortunately, that news may come a bit more slowly going forward.