CVE-2023-41819
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 · uneditedA PendingIntent hijacking vulnerability was reported in the Motorola Face Unlock application that could allow a local attacker to access unauthorized content providers.
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 confidenceThis is a PendingIntent hijacking vulnerability in Motorola's Face Unlock application. PendingIntent allows an app to grant another app permission to perform an action on its behalf; when improperly scoped or exported, a malicious local app can intercept or reuse the PendingIntent to access content providers that should be protected by the Face Unlock authentication.
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
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify if Face Unlock app is installedOn the Android device, go to Settings > Apps and search for 'Face Unlock', or use ADB command: 'adb shell pm list packages | grep -i faceunlock'Affected if The Face Unlock application is present on the device
-
Retrieve the installed Face Unlock versionUse ADB command: 'adb shell dumpsys package <package_name>' (find package name from step 1), or check in Settings > Apps > Face Unlock > VersionAffected if A version number is returned - note this for comparison against fixed releases
-
Check for available security updatesGo to Settings > System > Security Update on the Motorola device, or use ADB: 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'Affected if The device security patch level is older than when the CVE was patched by Motorola (no specific date provided in CVE data)
-
Verify PendingIntent protection (requires app analysis)This vulnerability requires examining the app binary for improper PendingIntent usage with content providers. As a proxy, check if any third-party apps have unusual permissions to access Face Unlock-related content providersAffected if Untrusted apps have permission to query Face Unlock content providers, indicating potential intent hijacking surface
User is affected if the Face Unlock app is installed and the device has not received the Motorola security patch that properly scopes the PendingIntent with FLAG_IMMUTABLE or FLAG_MUTABLE with appropriate permissions.
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 dataMotorola should release a patch that properly scopes the PendingIntent using FLAG_IMMUTABLE or FLAG_MUTABLE with appropriate permissions, and ensure content provider access is protected by proper authentication checks that cannot be bypassed via hijacked intents.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-41819 — 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-2023-41819 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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