CVE-2017-9821
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 · uneditedThe National Payments Corporation of India BHIM application 1.3 for Android relies on three hardcoded strings (AK-NPCIMB, IM-NPCIBM, and VK-NPCIBM) for SMS validation, which makes it easier for attackers to bypass authentication.
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 · high confidenceThe BHIM Android application 1.3 uses three hardcoded secret strings (AK-NPCIMB, IM-NPCIBM, and VK-NPCIBM) embedded in the application code for SMS validation. Attackers can extract these strings from the APK and use them to bypass the SMS-based authentication mechanism, gaining unauthorized access to user accounts.
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= 1.3CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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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Check installed BHIM application versionOn Android device: Go to Settings > Apps > BHIM > Version, or run 'adb shell dumpsys package com.bhim.npci' to retrieve versionInfo. Compare against version 1.3.Affected if Installed version is exactly 1.3
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Extract APK and search for hardcoded secretsObtain the BHIM APK (via adb pull or app marketplace download). Use a zip tool to extract, then search the extracted files for strings 'AK-NPCIMB', 'IM-NPCIBM', or 'VK-NPCIBM' using 'strings' command or grep tool.Affected if Any of these three hardcoded strings are found in the APK resources or DEX files
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Verify SMS-based authentication is activeCheck if the BHIM app uses SMS validation during login or account registration by inspecting network traffic or observing app behavior during authentication flow.Affected if SMS-based OTP validation is enabled and the app contains the hardcoded validation strings
User is affected if BHIM version 1.3 is installed, the hardcoded strings AK-NPCIMB, IM-NPCIBM, or VK-NPCIBM exist in the application, and SMS-based authentication is actively used.
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 dataRemove all hardcoded validation strings from the application code and implement dynamic, cryptographically secure SMS validation using server-side verification with time-limited, session-specific tokens rather than static secrets.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation20.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-9821 — 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-2017-9821 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data