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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2023-21364

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.0 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
In ContactsProvider, there is a possible crash loop due to resource exhaustion. This could lead to local persistent denial of service in the Phone app with User 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 · moderate confidence

This is a denial-of-service vulnerability in Android's ContactsProvider component. The vulnerability allows a locally running application to cause resource exhaustion, leading to a persistent crash loop in the Phone app. Exploitation requires user execution privileges but needs no user interaction.

MitigationApply the latest Android system updates from your device manufacturer, as this is a platform-level vulnerability in ContactsProvider that requires a system-level patch to remediate.

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:< 14.0= 14.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Android OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if The reported version is 14.0 or below (any version < 14.0 or exactly 14.0)
  2. Confirm ContactsProvider is accessible
    Check if the ContactsProvider component exists on the system by examining /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/ or running 'dumpsys content' via ADB to list content provider registrations
    Affected if ContactsProvider is present and registered on the device (which is default in standard Android builds)
  3. Check Phone app crash behavior
    Run 'dumpsys activity activities' via ADB or check logcat output with 'adb logcat | grep -i crash' to look for repeated Phone app crashes
    Affected if The Phone app is entering a persistent crash loop with stack traces originating from ContactsProvider
  4. Audit contacts-related permissions
    Review installed apps with Contacts permission via Settings > Apps > Permissions > Contacts, or run 'dumpsys package' via ADB to list packages with READ_CONTACTS or WRITE_CONTACTS
    Affected if Any application holds Contacts permissions and is exhibiting anomalous behavior or was recently installed

A user is affected if their Android device runs version 14.0 or below and ContactsProvider is functional, as the vulnerability requires these conditions to be exploitable by a malicious local application.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 14.0 or later
Fixed in 14.0
Interim mitigation

Apply the latest Android system updates from your device manufacturer, as this is a platform-level vulnerability in ContactsProvider that requires a system-level patch to remediate.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Android 15 or latest Android 14.x security update

  1. 1. Navigate to Settings > System > Software Update on the affected Android device
  2. 2. Check for and install any available system updates
  3. 3. If Android 14.0 is currently installed, verify the latest Android 14 quarterly security update is applied
  4. 4. Consider upgrading to Android 15 or later if available for your device to ensure the vulnerability is fully addressed
  5. 5. After update, verify the Phone app and ContactsProvider function normally without crash loops
Caveat Major Android version upgrades may cause app compatibility issues; backup data before upgrading

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,960.

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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-2023-21364 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