CVE-2018-21078
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), N(7.x), and O(8.0) software. The Contacts application allows attackers to originate video calls because SS (Supplementary Service) and USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) codes are improperly secured. The Samsung ID is SVE-2018-11469 (April 2018).
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 Samsung Contacts application on devices running Android M (6.0), N (7.x), and O (8.0) contains improper security controls on SS (Supplementary Service) and USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) codes. This allows attackers to potentially originate unauthorized video calls by exploiting the insecure handling of these special service codes within the Contacts application.
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= 7.0= 7.1.0= 7.1.1= 7.1.2= 8.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'Affected if The version matches 6.0, 7.0, 7.1.0, 7.1.1, 7.1.2, or 8.0
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Confirm device manufacturerCheck Settings > About Phone > Manufacturer, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.product.manufacturer'Affected if The device is a Samsung device (the vulnerability is in Samsung's Contacts application)
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Locate Samsung Contacts appCheck Settings > Apps > Contacts (or Contacts Storage), or run 'adb shell pm list packages | grep -i contacts'Affected if The Samsung Contacts application is installed on the device
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Check Samsung Contacts app versionIn Settings > Apps > Contacts > App info, note the version name and version code, or run 'adb shell dumpsys package com.sec.android.app.contacts | grep versionName'Affected if The installed version is a pre-April 2018 build and the device runs the affected Android versions listed above
A user is affected if they are running a Samsung device with Android 6.0, 7.0-7.1.2, or 8.0 that has not received the April 2018 security update.
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 dataApply Samsung's April 2018 security update (SVE-2018-11469) which addresses this vulnerability. Organizations should inventory affected devices and ensure timely patch deployment through their mobile device management infrastructure.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-21078 — 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-2018-21078 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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