AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2021-26687

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 issue was discovered on LG mobile devices with Android OS 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, and 10 software. In preloaded applications, the HostnameVerified default is mishandled. The LG ID is LVE-SMP-200029 (February 2021).

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 vulnerability involves improper handling of the HostnameVerifier default behavior in preloaded applications on LG mobile devices running Android 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, and 10. This mishandling likely allows SSL/TLS certificate validation to be bypassed, potentially enabling man-in-the-middle attacks against affected devices.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security patch from LG (LVE-SMP-200029) immediately. If no patch is available for affected devices, consider retiring or replacing those devices given the critical severity.

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:= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0= 10.0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify device manufacturer
    Check the device settings to confirm the manufacturer is LG. Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Manufacturer or Brand.
    Affected if Device is manufactured by LG
  2. Check Android version
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Android Version. Confirm the version is 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0.
    Affected if Android version equals 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0
  3. Verify affected preloaded applications exist
    Review the list of preinstalled applications on the device. Since the vulnerability affects the HostnameVerifier default behavior in preloaded apps, examine which preloaded apps handle network/SSL connections.
    Affected if Preloaded applications with SSL/TLS capabilities are present on the device
  4. Inspect SSL certificate validation behavior
    Use a network traffic analysis tool (such as a proxy or packet capture) to test SSL/TLS connections from preloaded applications. Observe if certificate hostname validation is being bypassed or ignored.
    Affected if Preloaded applications fail to properly validate SSL/TLS certificate hostnames, allowing connections to proceed despite hostname mismatches

The device is affected if it is an LG device running Android 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, or 10.0 and contains preloaded applications that improperly handle HostnameVerifier, resulting in bypassed SSL/TLS certificate validation.

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 vendor-supplied security patch from LG (LVE-SMP-200029) immediately. If no patch is available for affected devices, consider retiring or replacing those devices given the critical severity.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
40.0 hours of engineering $7,000
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2021-26687 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
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