CVE-2021-23246
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 · uneditedIn ACE2 ColorOS11, the attacker can obtain the foreground package name through permission promotion, resulting in user information disclosure.
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 confidenceIn ACE2 ColorOS11, an attacker can exploit improper permission validation to obtain the foreground package name, exposing which application the user is currently using. This permission elevation allows a malicious application to access sensitive user activity information without proper authorization.
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= 11CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 the ColorOS versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Version (or Settings > System > About Device > ColorOS Version). Confirm the installed ColorOS version is exactly 11.Affected if The device runs ColorOS version 11 (not 10, 12, or later)
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Check usage stats permission accessOn the device, go to Settings > Apps > Special Access > Usage access. Review which applications have been granted usage access permission.Affected if Applications other than system apps or settings utilities have usage access permission granted
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Verify foreground package query capabilityUsing ADB or a test application, attempt to query UsageStatsManager or ActivityManager to retrieve the currently foreground package name. Check if the query returns valid package names without requiring elevated system privileges.Affected if Non-system applications can successfully query and retrieve the foreground package name
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Inspect permission model configurationReview the device's permission policy files in /data/system/permission.xml or equivalent to check if PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS is properly protected.Affected if The permission model allows third-party applications to access usage statistics without proper restrictions
A device is affected if it runs ColorOS 11 AND has applications with usage access permission that can retrieve the foreground package name without system-level privileges.
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 dataUsers should apply vendor security patches for ColorOS11. The underlying fix requires modifying the permission model to properly restrict access to foreground package information, preventing unprivileged applications from retrieving this data.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-23246 — 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-2021-23246 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data