AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2021-25357

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-04-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A pendingIntent hijacking vulnerability in Create Movie prior to SMR APR-2021 Release 1 in Android O(8.x) and P(9.0), 3.4.81.1 in Android Q(10,0), and 3.6.80.7 in Android R(11.0) allows unprivileged applications to access contact information.

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

This is a PendingIntent hijacking vulnerability in Samsung's Create Movie application. A PendingIntent is an intent that can be passed to another application to execute with the creator's permissions. When hijacked, an unprivileged local application can intercept or manipulate this intent to access contact information that should have been protected.

MitigationApply the Samsung SMR (Security Maintenance Route) April 2021 update or later for affected Android versions. Verify the patch has been applied via system settings and test that unprivileged applications can no longer access contact data through the Create Movie component.

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:= 8.1= 9.0

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
None
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Identify Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if The version is 8.1 or 9.0 exactly
  2. Locate the Create Movie application
    Check if 'Create Movie' or 'com.samsung.android.app.movie' is installed by reviewing installed packages via ADB command 'pm list packages | grep -i movie' or checking the app drawer
    Affected if The Create Movie application is present on the device
  3. Verify Samsung security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than April 2021 (patch date is blank, shows a date before 2021-04-01, or does not include the April 2021 Samsung SMR update)

A device is affected if it runs Android 8.1 or 9.0, has the Samsung Create Movie app installed, and lacks the April 2021 Samsung security update.

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 Samsung SMR (Security Maintenance Route) April 2021 update or later for affected Android versions. Verify the patch has been applied via system settings and test that unprivileged applications can no longer access contact data through the Create Movie component.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
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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-2021-25357 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
  • 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