AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-9423

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-27
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
In opencv calls that use libpng, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges required. User interaction is not required for exploitation. Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10Android ID: A-110986616

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 confidence

A missing bounds check in OpenCV's libpng integration allows an out-of-bounds write vulnerability, enabling local privilege escalation without user interaction or additional execution privileges on Android-10 devices.

MitigationApply Android security patches for Android-10 that address the libpng vulnerability in OpenCV, or update OpenCV/libpng to patched versions and rebuild the affected Android system components.

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
AndroidOperating system
Affected:= 10.0

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. Check Android version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android version
    Affected if The version returned is exactly 10.0 (Android 10)
  2. Identify OpenCV components on device
    Search for OpenCV library files: 'find / -name "libopencv*" 2>/dev/null' or check /system/lib/ and /vendor/lib/ directories for libopencv*.so files
    Affected if OpenCV shared libraries (.so files) are present on the device
  3. Confirm libpng integration exists
    Check if OpenCV libraries link to libpng: run 'strings libopencv*.so | grep png' or examine /proc/<process>/maps for libpng usage alongside OpenCV
    Affected if libpng is used by or integrated with OpenCV on the device
  4. Verify vulnerable code path is reachable
    Identify applications or system services that load OpenCV with image processing capabilities; check if these components run with elevated privileges
    Affected if Applications or services using OpenCV for image processing run on the affected Android 10.0 device

You are affected if your device runs Android 10.0 and has OpenCV with libpng integration present and accessible by privileged system components, as this combination enables the out-of-bounds write for local privilege escalation.

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

Apply Android security patches for Android-10 that address the libpng vulnerability in OpenCV, or update OpenCV/libpng to patched versions and rebuild the affected Android system components.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,600
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2019-9423 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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