dbcve.org
Z5c FirmwareOperating system · Leagoo

CVE-2018-14986

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-12-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
The Leagoo Z5C Android device with a build fingerprint of sp7731c_1h10_32v4_bird:6.0/MRA58K/android.20170629.214736:user/release-keys contains a pre-installed app with a package name of com.android.messaging (versionCode=1000110, versionName=1.0.001, (android.20170630.092853-0)) containing an exported content provider named com.android.messaging.datamodel.MessagingContentProvider. Any app co-located on the device can read the most recent text message from each conversation. That is, for each phone number where the user has either sent or received a text message from, a zero-permission third-party app can obtain the body of the text message, phone number, name of the contact (if it exists), and a timestamp for the most recent text message of each conversation. As the querying of the vulnerable content provider app component can be performed silently in the background, a malicious app can continuously monitor the content provider to see if the current message in each conversation has changed to obtain new text messages.

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 confidence

The Leagoo Z5C Android device ships with a pre-installed messaging app (com.android.messaging) that exposes a content provider (com.android.messaging.datamodel.MessagingContentProvider) without any permission protection. This allows any other app installed on the device to query the provider and retrieve the most recent text message from each conversation, including message body, phone numbers, contact names, and timestamps. The attack is silent and can be continuously monitored by a malicious app.

MitigationThe content provider should be made non-exported (android:exported="false") or protected with a custom permission in the app's manifest to prevent unauthorized access by other applications.

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
Z5c FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm device model
    Check if the device is a Leagoo Z5C by going to Settings > About Phone > Model Number, or run `getprop ro.product.model` via ADB shell
    Affected if Device model is Leagoo Z5C
  2. Verify messaging app is present
    Check if the messaging app package com.android.messaging exists by using an app like Package Manager or running `pm list packages | grep messaging` via ADB shell
    Affected if Package com.android.messaging is installed
  3. Check content provider export status
    Extract the app's AndroidManifest.xml (via APK extraction or `aapt dump badging` on the APK) and inspect the MessagingContentProvider declaration for android:exported="true" or missing android:exported attribute
    Affected if The provider com.android.messaging.datamodel.MessagingContentProvider has android:exported="true" or no exported attribute (defaults to true)
  4. Test unauthorized provider access
    Use ADB to attempt a query: `content query --uri content://com.android.messaging.datamodel.MessagingContentProvider/conversations` or install a simple test app that queries this URI without any permissions
    Affected if The query returns message data (conversation list, message bodies, timestamps, or contact info) without the app holding any special permission

If the device is a Leagoo Z5C with the stock messaging app installed and the content provider returns data to an app without permissions, the device is affected by this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

The content provider should be made non-exported (android:exported="false") or protected with a custom permission in the app's manifest to prevent unauthorized access by other applications.

Fix this in Z5c Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-14986 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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