Galaxy J7 Pro FirmwareOperating system · Samsung

CVE-2019-15465

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 Samsung J7 Pro Android device with a build fingerprint of samsung/j7y17lteubm/j7y17lte:8.1.0/M1AJQ/J730GMUBS6BSC1:user/release-keys contains a pre-installed app with a package name of com.samsung.android.themecenter app (versionCode=7000100, versionName=7.0.1.0) that allows other pre-installed apps to perform app installation via an accessible app component. This capability can be accessed by any pre-installed app on the device which can obtain signatureOrSystem permissions that are required by other other pre-installed apps that exported their capabilities to other pre-installed app.

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 Samsung J7 Pro contains a pre-installed themecenter app (com.samsung.android.themecenter v7.0.1.0) with an exported component that allows other pre-installed apps to perform silent app installation. This occurs because the app accepts requests from other pre-installed apps holding signatureOrSystem permissions, creating a privilege escalation path where malicious or compromised pre-installed apps can install arbitrary applications without user interaction.

MitigationEnd users cannot directly remediate this vulnerability; it requires a firmware update from Samsung to either remove the vulnerable themecenter component, enforce proper permission validation, or restrict the exported component's accessibility. Organizations should inventory affected devices and monitor for vendor patches.

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
Galaxy J7 Pro 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm device model is Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Model Number, or run 'getprop ro.product.model' via ADB shell
    Affected if Model number shows anything other than SM-N935 or the specific J7 Pro model number for your region
  2. Verify themecenter app is installed
    Go to Settings > Apps > App List > Show System Apps, search for 'themecenter' or check for package 'com.samsung.android.themecenter' using ADB command: 'pm list packages | grep themecenter'
    Affected if Package com.samsung.android.themecenter is present on the device
  3. Check themecenter app version
    In Settings > Apps > themecenter > App Info, check the Version field; or run 'dumpsys package com.samsung.android.themecenter | grep versionName' via ADB
    Affected if Version shows 7.0.1.0 or any version of the themecenter app on J7 Pro firmware
  4. Inspect exported component accessibility
    Run 'dumpsys package com.samsung.android.themecenter' and look for 'android:exported=true' in the service or receiver declarations, or use an APK analysis tool to examine AndroidManifest.xml
    Affected if The app declares exported components (activities, services, or receivers) that accept requests without proper signatureOrSystem permission validation

If the device is a Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro with the themecenter app (any version) installed and running the affected firmware, the device is vulnerable to silent app installation via the exported component.

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

End users cannot directly remediate this vulnerability; it requires a firmware update from Samsung to either remove the vulnerable themecenter component, enforce proper permission validation, or restrict the exported component's accessibility. Organizations should inventory affected devices and monitor for vendor patches.

Fix this in Galaxy J7 Pro Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,920
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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-2019-15465 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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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