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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 20 Jul 2023.
AndroidOperating system · Samsung

CVE-2021-25371

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-03-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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 vulnerability in DSP driver prior to SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 allows attackers load arbitrary ELF libraries inside DSP.

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 vulnerability in the DSP (Digital Signal Processor) driver allows attackers to load arbitrary ELF libraries into the DSP context. This could enable arbitrary code execution within the DSP environment, potentially leading to privilege escalation or code execution in a protected processing domain.

MitigationUpdate the DSP driver to SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. If patching is not immediately possible, restrict access to the DSP driver interfaces and monitor for unusual ELF loading activity.

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= 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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/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. Verify Android OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if Version is 10.0 or 11.0 exactly (Android 10 or Android 11)
  2. Check Samsung Security Patch Level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB
    Affected if Security patch level is March 2021 or earlier (2021-03-00 or earlier)
  3. Confirm DSP driver presence
    Check for the DSP driver module in /vendor/lib or /vendor/lib64 directories. Look for files containing 'dsp', 'adsp', or 'cdsp' in the filename. Run 'find /vendor -iname *dsp*' via ADB shell
    Affected if A DSP driver module exists on the device (the vulnerability applies to devices with this driver)
  4. Identify DSP driver configuration
    Check for DSP-related kernel modules or system properties. Run 'getprop | grep -i dsp' or 'getprop | grep -i adsp' via ADB. Also inspect /sys/kernel/debug/ if accessible
    Affected if DSP driver is loaded and active (indicated by dsp/adsp properties or debugfs entries)
  5. Review SELinux or device policy for DSP access
    Check SELinux policy status or device configuration files in /sepolicy or /vendor/etc/ that govern DSP driver access. Run 'getenforce' via ADB to check if SELinux is enforcing
    Affected if DSP driver allows unrestricted loading of libraries (policy does not restrict ELF library loading to the DSP)

A device is affected if it runs Android 10 or 11 with a Samsung Security Patch Level of March 2021 or earlier and has an active DSP driver module that can be exploited to load arbitrary ELF libraries.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the DSP driver to SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. If patching is not immediately possible, restrict access to the DSP driver interfaces and monitor for unusual ELF loading activity.

Recommended fix High confidence

SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 (or later)

  1. Check the current Android version on the device by going to Settings > About Phone > Software Information
  2. Check the current Samsung Security Maintenance Release (SMR) version by going to Settings > About Phone > Software Information > SMR (or Samsung security patch level)
  3. If the SMR is earlier than 'Mar-2021 Release 1' or the Android security patch level is earlier than March 2021, navigate to Settings > Software Update
  4. Tap 'Download and install' to check for available updates
  5. Ensure the device is connected to Wi-Fi and has sufficient battery (at least 50%) before downloading
  6. Download and install the SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 security update or later
  7. After the update completes, verify the SMR version shows 'Mar-2021 Release 1' or later in Settings > About Phone > Software Information

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

Fix this in Android Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2021-25371 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