AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2021-0571

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-22
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 ActivityTaskManagerService.startActivity() and AppTaskImpl.startActivity() of ActivityTaskManagerService.java and AppTaskImpl.java, there is possible access to restricted activities due to a permissions bypass. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-11Android ID: A-137395936

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

A permissions bypass in Android's ActivityTaskManagerService and AppTaskImpl allows unprivileged applications to launch restricted activities that should require elevated permissions. This enables local privilege escalation without user interaction on Android-11 devices.

MitigationApply the Android security patch level for the target device from Google's monthly security bulletin. This is a platform-level vulnerability requiring a system update, not an application-level fix.

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:= 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
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 Android version is 11.0
    Check the device OS version via Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in ADB shell
    Affected if The version shown is exactly 11.0 (Android 11)
  2. Verify the affected components are present
    Check for ActivityTaskManagerService and AppTaskImpl in the system by running 'dumpsys activity' in ADB shell and looking for AppTaskImpl references, or verify the framework JAR exists at /system/framework/framework.jar
    Affected if The device runs Android 11.0 with the standard framework components intact (this is the default state)
  3. Check security patch level
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' in ADB shell or check Settings > About Phone > Security patch level
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the fix release for CVE-2021-0571 (the vulnerability is present if the patch is not applied)

A device is affected if it runs Android 11.0 and lacks the security patch that addresses CVE-2021-0571, as the permissions bypass exists in the default ActivityTaskManagerService and AppTaskImpl implementation on that version.

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 the Android security patch level for the target device from Google's monthly security bulletin. This is a platform-level vulnerability requiring a system update, not an application-level fix.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,280
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0571 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-0571 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