AndroidOperating system · Samsung

CVE-2023-21477

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
Access of Memory Location After End of Buffer vulnerability in TIGERF trustlet prior to SMR Apr-2023 Release 1 allows local attackers to access protected data.

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

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability (access of memory location after end of buffer) in the TIGERF trustlet (a Trusted Execution Environment component) allows local attackers to read protected data from memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries. This is a memory safety flaw in Samsung's TEE implementation prior to the April 2023 security update.

MitigationApply the SMR Apr-2023 Release 1 or later security update, which contains the patched TIGERF trustlet. Verify TEE functionality remains intact after applying the update.

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:= 11.0= 12.0= 13.0

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Check Android OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if Version is 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 (prior to any April 2023 update)
  2. Verify Samsung Security Patch Level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Software Information > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB
    Affected if Security patch level is earlier than April 2023 (SMR Apr-2023 Release 1)
  3. Confirm TEE is active
    Check if Trusted Execution Environment is enabled and operational on the device; on Samsung devices this is typically indicated by 'TEE' in /proc/metadata or via 'dumpsys tee' command
    Affected if TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) is present and the TIGERF trustlet is loaded

You are affected if your Samsung Android device runs version 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 AND has a security patch level dated before the April 2023 Samsung maintenance release, with TEE/TIGERF trustlet active.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the SMR Apr-2023 Release 1 or later security update, which contains the patched TIGERF trustlet. Verify TEE functionality remains intact after applying the update.

Recommended fix High confidence

SMR Apr-2023 Release 1 (April 2023 Samsung Security Patch)

  1. Check if your Samsung device has the April 2023 security update available by going to Settings > Security update
  2. Download and install the SMR Apr-2023 Release 1 security update through Settings > Software update
  3. Verify successful installation by confirming the device is running the April 2023 Security Patch Level or later

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,840
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21477 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-21477 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