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Incorrect Default PermissionsWeakness · CWE-276

CVE-2023-38291

HIGH · 7.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
73/100
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
An issue was discovered in a third-party component related to ro.boot.wifimacaddr, shipped on devices from multiple device manufacturers. Various software builds for the following TCL devices (30Z and 10L) and Motorola devices (Moto G Pure and Moto G Power) leak the Wi-Fi MAC address to a system property that can be accessed by any local app on the device without any permissions or special privileges. Google restricted third-party apps from directly obtaining non-resettable device identifiers in Android 10 and higher, but in these instances they are leaked by a high-privilege process and can be obtained indirectly. The software build fingerprints for each confirmed vulnerable device are as follows: TCL A3X (TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vAAZ:user/release-keys, TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vAB3:user/release-keys, TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vAB7:user/release-keys, TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vABA:user/release-keys, TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vABM:user/release-keys, TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vABP:user/release-keys, and TCL/A600DL/Delhi_TF:11/RKQ1.201202.002/vABS:user/release-keys); TCL 10L (TCL/T770B/T1_LITE:10/QKQ1.200329.002/3CJ0:user/release-keys and TCL/T770B/T1_LITE:11/RKQ1.210107.001/8BIC:user/release-keys); Motorola Moto G Pure (motorola/ellis_trac/ellis:11/RRHS31.Q3-46-110-2/74844:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_trac/ellis:11/RRHS31.Q3-46-110-7/5cde8:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_trac/ellis:11/RRHS31.Q3-46-110-10/d67faa:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_trac/ellis:11/RRHS31.Q3-46-110-13/b4a29:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_trac/ellis:12/S3RH32.20-42-10/1c2540:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_trac/ellis:12/S3RHS32.20-42-13-2-1/6368dd:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_a/ellis:11/RRH31.Q3-46-50-2/20fec:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_vzw/ellis:11/RRH31.Q3-46-138/103bd:user/release-keys, motorola/ellis_vzw/ellis:11/RRHS31.Q3-46-138-2/e5502:user/release-keys, and motorola/ellis_vzw/ellis:12/S3RHS32.20-42-10-14-2/5e0b0:user/release-keys); and Motorola Moto G Power (motorola/tonga_g/tonga:11/RRQ31.Q3-68-16-2/e5877:user/release-keys and motorola/tonga_g/tonga:12/S3RQS32.20-42-10-6/f876d3:user/release-keys). This malicious app reads from the "ro.boot.wifimacaddr" system property to indirectly obtain the Wi-Fi MAC address.

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 confidence

A third-party component on affected TCL and Motorola devices writes the Wi-Fi MAC address to the system property 'ro.boot.wifimacaddr', which can be read by any unprivileged app without permissions. This bypasses Android 10+ restrictions that block direct access to non-resettable device identifiers, allowing malicious apps to indirectly obtain persistent device MAC addresses.

MitigationDevice manufacturers must release firmware updates that restrict access to the 'ro.boot.wifimacaddr' system property (via sepolicy or property_contexts) and/or remove/update the vulnerable third-party component leaking the MAC address. Users should apply available security patches promptly.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Identify device manufacturer
    Run 'getprop ro.product.manufacturer' or 'getprop ro.product.brand' in adb shell to check if the device is TCL or Motorola
    Affected if Manufacturer is TCL or Motorola (other manufacturers may not be affected by this specific CVE)
  2. Check if vulnerable system property exists
    Run 'getprop ro.boot.wifimacaddr' in adb shell to see if the property is set
    Affected if The property returns a valid MAC address format (e.g., XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX)
  3. Verify property is readable by unprivileged apps
    Create and run a simple test app (or use an existing permission-checking tool) that attempts to read 'ro.boot.wifimacaddr' WITHOUT any special permissions
    Affected if The app can successfully read the MAC address without holding any privileged system permissions (this confirms the bypass of Android 10+ restrictions)
  4. Confirm Android version is 10 or higher
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' in adb shell
    Affected if Android version is 10 or higher (Android 10+ introduced restrictions this CVE bypasses)

If the device is a TCL or Motorola unit running Android 10+ and the 'ro.boot.wifimacaddr' property is present and readable by unprivileged apps, the device is affected by CVE-2023-38291.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Device manufacturers must release firmware updates that restrict access to the 'ro.boot.wifimacaddr' system property (via sepolicy or property_contexts) and/or remove/update the vulnerable third-party component leaking the MAC address. Users should apply available security patches promptly.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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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-2023-38291 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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