dbcve.org
AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2023-38437

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-04
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
In vowifiservice, there is a possible missing permission check.This could lead to local information disclosure with no additional execution privileges

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

A missing permission check in vowifiservice (likely Voice over WiFi service) allows a local attacker to access sensitive information without requiring elevated privileges. The vulnerability enables unauthorized data exposure through improper access control enforcement.

MitigationAdd appropriate permission checks to all sensitive operations in vowifiservice, ensuring that only authorized callers with valid Android permissions can access protected data.

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

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. Identify the Android version
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android version
    Affected if The version listed is exactly 11.0 (the affected version)
  2. Locate the vowifiservice component
    Search for vowifiservice in the system by running 'pm list packages | grep wificall' or checking /system/app or /system/priv-app directories for vowifiservice
    Affected if The vowifiservice package or binary exists on the device
  3. Verify the service is enabled
    Check if the vowifiservice is listed in 'dumpsys package' output or running via 'ps -A | grep wifiservice'
    Affected if The vowifiservice process is running or registered as an active service
  4. Check service permissions configuration
    Examine the service definition in AndroidManifest.xml or the corresponding .xml in /etc/permissions for the vowifiservice component
    Affected if The service lacks explicit permission requirements for its sensitive operations (no android:permission attribute on the service declaration)

A device is affected if it runs Android 11.0 exactly and has the vowifiservice component present and enabled without proper permission enforcement on sensitive operations

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

Add appropriate permission checks to all sensitive operations in vowifiservice, ensuring that only authorized callers with valid Android permissions can access protected data.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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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-2023-38437 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