CVE-2023-21490
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 · uneditedImproper access control in GearManagerStub prior to SMR May-2023 Release 1 allows a local attacker to delete applications installed by watchmanager.
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 confidenceImproper access control in Samsung's GearManagerStub (wearable device management component) allows a local attacker to delete applications installed by the watchmanager. This is a local privilege escalation issue where the system fails to properly authorize deletion requests, potentially allowing malicious removal of legitimate wearable applications.
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= 11.0= 12.0= 13.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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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Identify Android OS versionNavigate to Settings > About Phone > Android version on the Samsung device, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADBAffected if The device runs Android 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 specifically
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Verify GearManagerStub component presenceCheck for the GearManagerStub package in the system by examining installed packages via 'pm list packages | grep -i gear' or checking /data/data for Samsung wearable management componentsAffected if The GearManagerStub component is present and active on the device
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Confirm watchmanager app installation statusCheck if watchmanager or related wearable management apps are installed using 'pm list packages | grep -i watchmanager' or through Settings > AppsAffected if Watchmanager or wearable management applications are installed on the device
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Review application deletion permissionsAudit the GearManagerStub permissions by examining the AndroidManifest.xml if accessible, or monitor app deletion operations through logcat for unauthorized deletion attemptsAffected if The GearManagerStub component allows unauthenticated or improperly authorized deletion requests
A Samsung Android device is affected if it runs version 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 AND has the GearManagerStub wearable management component active with watchmanager applications present.
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.
From vendor dataApply Samsung SMR May-2023 Release 1 or later to patch the GearManagerStub access control vulnerability. Organizations should review and update affected wearable device firmware through their MDM or Samsung firmware update mechanisms.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-21490 — 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-2023-21490 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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- 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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