CVE-2021-25462
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 · uneditedNULL pointer dereference vulnerability in NPU driver prior to SMR Sep-2021 Release 1 allows attackers to cause memory corruption.
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 confidenceA NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) driver allows attackers to cause memory corruption. The vulnerability exists in Samsung mobile device NPU drivers prior to the SMR September 2021 Release 1 patch, potentially leading to denial of service or memory corruption conditions.
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= 9.0= 10.0= 11.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm device is a Samsung Galaxy modelGo to Settings > About Phone > Device name and Manufacturer. Verify the manufacturer is Samsung and it is a Galaxy series device.Affected if Device is not a Samsung Galaxy device - the vulnerability is specific to Samsung's NPU driver implementation.
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Check Android versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Android version. Verify the installed Android version is 9.0, 10.0, or 11.0.Affected if Android version is 9.0, 10.0, or 11.0 - these are the affected versions per the CVE.
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Check Samsung Security Patch LevelGo to Settings > About Phone > Software information > Security patch level. Note the date and compare it to September 2021 Release 1.Affected if Security patch level is dated before the Samsung SMR September 2021 Release 1, indicating the NPU vulnerability is unpatched.
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Verify NPU driver presenceUse a terminal app or ADB shell to check for the NPU driver: ls /sys/class/npu/ or check /dev/npu* existence. Alternatively, check in Settings > Apps > Show system apps for any NPU-related system services.Affected if NPU driver is present and active on the device - the vulnerability exists in this driver component.
A Samsung Galaxy device running Android 9.0, 10.0, or 11.0 with a security patch level prior to September 2021 Release 1 and with the NPU driver present is affected by this vulnerability.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the Samsung SMR September 2021 Release 1 or later security update, which patches the NPU driver vulnerability on affected Galaxy devices.
SMR Sep-2021 Release 1 or later
- Check if your Samsung device model is eligible for the SMR Sep-2021 Release 1 update
- Navigate to Settings > Software update > Download and install on your Samsung device
- Apply the September 2021 Samsung security update (SMR Sep-2021 Release 1) which contains the fix for the NPU driver NULL pointer dereference
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-25462 — 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-2021-25462 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
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