CVE-2017-18686
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with M(6.0) and N(7.0) software. Contact information can leak to a log file because of the broadcasting of an unprotected intent. The Samsung ID is SVE-2016-7180 (February 2017).
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceOn Samsung mobile devices running Android M (6.0) and N (7.0), contact information is inadvertently leaked to a log file due to an unprotected intent broadcast. The device broadcasts sensitive contact data via an implicit intent without proper permission controls, allowing any application on the device to intercept this broadcast and access the contact information.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 6.0= 7.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify device manufacturer is SamsungRun 'getprop ro.product.manufacturer' in ADB shell or check Settings > About Phone for the manufacturer nameAffected if Device is not a Samsung device (this vulnerability is Samsung-specific)
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Check Android versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in ADB shell or check Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if Version is 6.0 (Marshmallow) or 7.0 (Nougat)
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Identify vulnerable contact broadcastMonitor system broadcasts using 'dumpsys activity broadcasts' in ADB shell or analyze installed Samsung apps for implicit intent broadcasts handling contacts. Look for broadcasts with action strings related to contacts that lack permission protectionAffected if An unprotected implicit intent broadcast handling contact data is present on the device
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Check for contact data in log filesUse 'logcat -d' to dump logcat output and search for contact-related keywords (contact name, phone number, email) or examine /data/log/ directories if accessible. Use 'find /data -name "*.log"' to locate log filesAffected if Contact information appears in system logs
Device is affected if it is a Samsung mobile device running Android 6.0 or 7.0 that broadcasts contact data via an unprotected implicit intent, resulting in contact information being written to log files
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataSamsung should implement permission-protected intent broadcasts or use explicit intents instead of implicit broadcasts for contact data. Additionally, sensitive contact information should not be written to log files. End users should ensure their devices receive official Samsung security updates.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-18686 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-18686 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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