Samsung has today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012, which slightly exceed the estimations that were set by the Korean company earlier this month. It recorded an operating profit of 8.84 trillion won (approx. $8.27 billion) during the three-month period, on 56.06 trillion won (approx. $54.45 billion) in revenue. That’s a 10% increase in profit over the previous quarter, and a whopping 89.3% increase in profit over the fourth quarter of 2011.

Samsung has begun rolling out a software patch to address a major security flaw with its Exynos processor that leaves a handful of Android handsets vulnerable to attack. The update is first reaching Galaxy S III owners in the United Kingdom, but we would expect Samsung to be working hard to make this one available worldwide as quickly as possible.

Samsung has vowed to patch a major vulnerability discovered in its Exynos kernel that could allow certain Android devices to be wiped or bricked by a malicious application. The flaw was discovered earlier this week, and the Korean company promises to release a software update to address it “as quickly as possible.”

Last Tuesday, a rumor surfaced regarding an exciting new Android handset from Sony that will reportedly offer a 5-inch 1080p display like the HTC Droid DNA. Called the Sony Xperia Yuga, the device is expected to debut in early 2013, but images of its prototype have already surfaced.

Developers have discovered a serious vulnerability with Samsung’s Exynos-powered smartphones — including its latest Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II devices — that can provide attackers with access to all physical memory. The flaw leaves the handsets open to malicious apps that can access a user’s personal data, completely wipe their data, or worse, brick their handset.