CVE-2023-21378
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 Telecomm, there is a possible way to silence the ring for calls of secondary users due to a missing permission check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege 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 · moderate confidenceThis is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in Android's Telecomm framework service. The missing permission check allows a local attacker to silence ringtones for secondary user calls without proper authorization, effectively bypassing intended access controls in the multi-user calling system.
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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Android OS versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or execute 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if Version number is less than 14.0
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Identify configured usersRun 'pm list users' via ADB shell to list all user accounts on the deviceAffected if Multiple user accounts exist on a device running Android below 14.0
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Verify Telecomm framework is accessibleExecute 'dumpsys telecom' via ADB shell to confirm the Telecomm service is running and accessibleAffected if Telecomm service is active on Android version below 14.0
Device is affected if it runs Android versions below 14.0 with multiple user accounts configured, as the missing permission check in Telecomm can be exploited to bypass access controls on secondary user call ringing settings.
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 the vendor patch for CVE-2023-21378 which adds proper permission validation in the Telecomm component to enforce authorization checks before allowing modification of call ringing settings for secondary users.
Android 14.0
- Verify the current Android version by going to Settings > About Phone > Android version
- Check if your device manufacturer has released Android 14.0 (or a patch that includes the CVE-2023-21378 fix) for your specific device model
- If Android 14.0 is available, back up all important data on the device
- Initiate the system update through Settings > System > Software Update > Download and install
- Ensure the device is connected to Wi-Fi and has sufficient battery (or is charging) before starting the update
- After the update completes, verify the Android version shows 14.0 or later
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,192.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21378 — 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-2023-21378 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