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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2021-0473

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-11
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 rw_t3t_process_error of rw_t3t.cc, there is a possible double free due to uninitialized data. This could lead to remote code execution over NFC with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-9 Android-10 Android-11 Android-8.1Android ID: A-179687208

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-908

Memory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.

General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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:= 8.1= 9.0= 10.0= 11.0

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch source.android.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Android-12 (S) or later, or ensure May 2021 Security Patch Level (2021-05-01) is installed

  1. Check the current Android version on the device under Settings > About Phone
  2. Navigate to Settings > Security > Security update to verify the installed patch level
  3. If the device has not received the May 2021 security update (patch level 2021-05-01), check for available system updates under Settings > System > Advanced > System update
  4. Apply any available system updates that include the May 2021 Android Security Patch Level
  5. If no update is available from the device manufacturer, consider upgrading to a newer Android version (Android 12 or later) which includes this fix
  6. After updating, verify the patch level shows 2021-05-01 or later under Settings > Security > Security update
Caveat Upgrading to Android 12 may introduce UI changes and app compatibility considerations; some apps may require updates for full functionality

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2021-0473 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