Google and Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games are at odds after Google detailed a potential exploit discovered in Fortnite's Android release. Despite a request from Epic to hold off on the report, Google released it to the public one week after a patch was released, and Epic Games isn't happy about it.

Epic Games created its own launcher for Fortnite on Android, bypassing the Google Play Store and Google's regular app security checks. However, that didn't stop Google engineers from analyzing the launcher. Google discovered a man-in-the-disk exploit that would have allowed malicious apps to essentially take over the Fortnite launcher. Instead of downloading a legitimate Fortnite APK through the game's launcher, users could have unknowingly been installing a fake APK which could have maliciously harmed the user's device.

Epic Games quickly patched the launcher after Google informed Epic privately of the problem, and requested Google to wait the maximum 90 days before disclosing the report to the public. Google's public bug report guidelines allow it to either wait for up to 90 days, or it can release the report immediately after the problem is patched. Google chose to release the report one week after the patch went live, and Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has voiced his displeasure with this decision, saying:

"...It was irresponsible of Google to publicly disclose the technical details of the flaw so quickly, while many installations had not yet been updated and were still vulnerable. An Epic security engineer, at my urging, requested Google delay public disclosure for the typical 90 days to allow time for the update to be more widely installed. Google refused."

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From Epic's point of view, Google's release of this information meant that anyone who hadn't yet updated the launcher had a target painted on them, and hackers could potentially take advantage of the situation after learning of the exploit via Google. However, some players might see it differently, as it could also be seen as an alert to those who don't frequently update their apps and didn't know they were at risk.

Tim Sweeney indicated that the move was a PR stunt by Google, but it's unclear if Fortnite staying off the Google Play Store had any impact on Google's decision. Even with the staggering popularity of Fortnite, Google has plenty of other avenues to rake in massive profit from gaming via the Google Play Store. In any case, it adds more fuel to the initial concerns that Epic's decision to release Fortnite for Android without the regular oversight Google provides for all apps on the Play Store could potentially expose Fortnite players' phones to risks.

Fortnite is available now for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and iOS, and is currently in beta for Android.

Source: Mashable