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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-2021-25372

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
An improper boundary check in DSP driver prior to SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 allows out of bounds memory access.

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

This is a memory safety vulnerability in a Samsung DSP (Digital Signal Processor) driver where improper boundary checking allows out-of-bounds memory access. The flaw exists in versions prior to the SMR March 2021 Release 1 update, potentially allowing attackers to read or write beyond allocated buffer boundaries.

MitigationApply the Samsung SMR March 2021 Release 1 or later security update, which contains the proper boundary check fix for the DSP driver.

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. Check Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via adb shell
    Affected if Version shows 10.0 or 11.0 (devices on Android 12 or later are not affected by this specific CVE)
  2. Check Samsung SMR patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Build number, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.smr' via adb shell
    Affected if The SMR version is earlier than 'Mar-2021' or 'SMR-Mar-2021' release (versions prior to SMR March 2021 Release 1 contain the vulnerable DSP driver)
  3. Verify DSP driver presence
    Check if the DSP driver module exists on the device by examining /system/lib/modules or vendor partitions for DSP-related kernel modules, or run 'ls /vendor/lib/modules/*dsp*' via adb shell
    Affected if A DSP driver module is present on the device (the vulnerability exists in the DSP driver component itself)
  4. Confirm device model is Samsung
    Run 'getprop ro.product.brand' or 'getprop ro.manufacturer' via adb shell to verify the device is a Samsung product
    Affected if The device brand is Samsung (this vulnerability is specific to Samsung's DSP driver implementation)
  5. Cross-reference SMR with Android version
    Combine the Android version and SMR patch level - if on Android 10.0 or 11.0 with SMR earlier than March 2021, the device contains the unpatched vulnerable DSP driver
    Affected if Running Android 10.0 or 11.0 with SMR version prior to March 2021 Release 1 on a Samsung device

A Samsung device is affected if it runs Android 10.0 or 11.0 with an SMR patch level earlier than March 2021 Release 1, as this combination contains the DSP driver with the missing boundary check fix.

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

Apply the Samsung SMR March 2021 Release 1 or later security update, which contains the proper boundary check fix for the DSP driver.

Recommended fix High confidence

SMR Mar-2021 Release 1 (Android 10/11 security update)

  1. Navigate to Settings > About Phone on your Samsung device
  2. Check for Software Updates or System Updates
  3. Ensure the device is running SMR (Security Maintenance Release) March 2021 or later
  4. If an update is available, download and install it over a stable Wi-Fi connection
  5. After updating, verify the security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Software Information > Security patch level shows March 2021 or later
Caveat Standard Android security update risks apply - ensure device is charged and on stable power during update

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

Fix this in Android Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,560
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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-2021-25372 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