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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2023-38457

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 denial of service 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

In the vowifiservice (Voice over WiFi service), a missing permission check allows a local attacker to cause denial of service without requiring additional execution privileges. This indicates the service did not properly validate caller permissions before performing certain operations, allowing unauthorized access to trigger service disruption.

MitigationImplement proper permission checks in the vowifiservice to validate caller identity and privileges before allowing access to sensitive operations that could cause denial of service.

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Android version
    Check the device settings under Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if Version is exactly 11.0 (the only affected version listed)
  2. Verify vowifiservice presence
    Check if the vowifiservice (Voice over WiFi service) is present on the device by listing running services via 'dumpsys' or reviewing the system service list
    Affected if The vowifiservice is installed and running on the device
  3. Confirm service configuration
    Examine the vowifiservice configuration files or manifest to confirm the service is enabled, typically found in system service definitions
    Affected if The service is enabled and operational on the Android 11.0 device

A device is affected if it runs Android version 11.0 and has the vowifiservice enabled, as this specific version lacks the missing permission check fix.

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

Implement proper permission checks in the vowifiservice to validate caller identity and privileges before allowing access to sensitive operations that could cause denial of service.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2023-38457 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