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NotesApplication · Samsung

CVE-2021-25405

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-06-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.2.04.27 or later.
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
An improper access control vulnerability in ScreenOffActivity in Samsung Notes prior to version 4.2.04.27 allows untrusted applications to access local files.

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

Samsung Notes prior to version 4.2.04.27 contains an improperly exported ScreenOffActivity component that lacks proper access control, allowing malicious applications to send intents to this component and gain unauthorized access to local files stored by the application.

MitigationUpdate Samsung Notes to version 4.2.04.27 or later, which contains the fix for this access control vulnerability.

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
NotesApplication
Affected:< 4.2.04.27

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. Check Samsung Notes package version
    On the Android device, go to Settings > Apps > Samsung Notes, or use ADB command: `adb shell dumpsys package com.samsung.android.app.notes | grep versionName`
    Affected if The displayed version is lower than 4.2.04.27
  2. Verify package name is correct
    Confirm the installed package is com.samsung.android.app.notes (the legitimate Samsung Notes application)
    Affected if The package name matches com.samsung.android.app.notes AND version is below 4.2.04.27
  3. Confirm app is installed and used
    Check if Samsung Notes appears in the app drawer or list of installed applications
    Affected if The app is installed on the device and the version is below 4.2.04.27

You are affected if Samsung Notes (package com.samsung.android.app.notes) is installed with a version lower than 4.2.04.27 on your Android device.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.2.04.27 or later
Fixed in 4.2.04.27
Interim mitigation

Update Samsung Notes to version 4.2.04.27 or later, which contains the fix for this access control vulnerability.

Fix this in Notes Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,928.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2021-25405 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