CVE-2023-21339
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 · uneditedIn Minikin, there is a possible way to trigger ANR by showing a malicious message due to resource exhaustion. This could lead to remote denial of service with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
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 confidenceCVE-2023-21339 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in Minikin, Android's text layout and rendering engine. The vulnerability allows a malicious message to cause resource exhaustion during text rendering, leading to ANR (Application Not Responding). Exploitation requires no user interaction or additional execution privileges.
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< 14.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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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Check the Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if The installed Android version is 13.x, 12.x, 11.x, or any version below 14.0. Versions 14.0 and above are not affected.
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Verify Minikin library presenceMinikin is part of the Android framework and cannot be disabled. Confirm by checking /system/framework/minikin.jar exists on the device (requires root or ADB access)Affected if The Minikin library is present on all Android devices running versions below 14.0, meaning the vulnerability exists in the text rendering subsystem.
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Identify applications or processes that render external textReview installed apps that display text from untrusted sources, such as messaging apps, email clients, web browsers, or any app that renders HTML/PDF/user-generated contentAffected if Any application that renders text from untrusted or remote sources could trigger the vulnerability when processing maliciously crafted text messages.
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Check for recent system security updatesGo to Settings > Security > Security update level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADBAffected if The security patch level is earlier than the March 2023 Android security bulletin (or unspecified), indicating the fix for CVE-2023-21339 has not been applied.
You are affected if your Android device runs version 13.x or below and has not received the March 2023 Android security update (or later) that patches CVE-2023-21339 in Minikin.
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 · scoped14.0
Apply Android system security updates to address the Minikin vulnerability; until patched, be cautious when rendering text from untrusted sources.
Android 14.0
- Verify current Android version on affected devices by checking Settings > About Phone > Android version
- Backup all important data from the device
- Check if device manufacturer has released Android 14.0 update for your specific device model
- If update is available, initiate the update via Settings > System > Software Update > Check for updates
- Alternatively, if manufacturer support is unavailable, consider replacing with a device that receives Android 14.0 or later updates
- After update, verify Android version shows 14.0 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21339 — 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-2023-21339 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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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.
- 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