CVE-2018-17401
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 PhonePe wallet (aka com.PhonePe.app) application 3.0.6 through 3.3.26 for Android might allow attackers to perform Account Takeover attacks by exploiting its Forgot Password feature. NOTE: the vendor says that, to exploit this, the user has to explicitly install a malicious app and provide accessibility permission to the malicious app, that the Android platform provides fair warnings to the users before turning on accessibility for any application, and that it believes it is similar to installing malicious keyboards, or malicious apps taking screenshots
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 confidenceThe PhonePe Android wallet application versions 3.0.6-3.3.26 contains an Account Takeover vulnerability in its Forgot Password feature. A malicious app granted accessibility permissions can likely intercept sensitive data during the password reset process, allowing attackers to capture reset tokens or credentials.
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>= 3.0.6, <= 3.3.26CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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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Confirm PhonePe app is installedNavigate to Settings > Apps on the Android device and locate the PhonePe app in the app list, or run: adb shell pm list packages | grep phonepeAffected if The PhonePe application is present on the device
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Check installed PhonePe versionIn Settings > Apps > PhonePe, view the App info to see the version number, or run: adb shell dumpsys package com.phonepe.app | grep versionNameAffected if The installed version falls within 3.0.6 to 3.3.26 inclusive
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Review granted accessibility permissionsNavigate to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility services and list all apps with accessibility permissions enabled, or run: adb shell settings get secure enabled_accessibility_servicesAffected if Any third-party app other than system accessibility services has been granted accessibility permissions
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Inspect installed apps for suspicious packagesReview the list of installed apps (Settings > Apps > See all apps) for any unfamiliar or malicious-looking applications that could have been used to exploit the accessibility permissionAffected if Unknown or untrusted apps with accessibility permissions are present on the device
A user is affected if PhonePe version 3.0.6 through 3.3.26 is installed AND any third-party app has been granted accessibility permissions on the device.
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 dataImplement defense-in-depth controls: detect and block accessibility services during password reset flows, add device binding or biometric verification for sensitive operations, and implement anomaly detection for suspicious account recovery requests.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-17401 — 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-2018-17401 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