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PhoneApplication · Samsung

CVE-2023-42545

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.7.20.12 / 13.1.48 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Use of implicit intent for sensitive communication vulnerability in Phone prior to versions 12.7.20.12 in Android 11, 13.1.48, 13.5.28 in Android 12, and 14.7.38 in Android 13 allows attackers to access location data.

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

This is an Android intent hijacking vulnerability in Samsung's Phone application. The app uses implicit intents to transmit location data, allowing any malicious app on the same device to intercept these sensitive communications by registering as a receiver for those implicit intents. This exposes user location data to local attackers without requiring any permissions.

MitigationUpdate Samsung Phone app to version 12.7.20.12 or later on Android 11, 13.1.48/13.5.28 or later on Android 12, and 14.7.38 or later on Android 13 to replace implicit intents with explicit intents for sensitive location data transmission.

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
PhoneApplication
Affected:< 12.7.20.12< 13.1.48>= 13.5.0, < 13.5.28< 14.7.38

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 Samsung Phone app package
    Run: adb shell pm list packages | grep -i samsung.phone or adb shell pm list packages | grep -i 'phone' (look for com.samsung.android.app.phone or com.sec.android.phone)
    Affected if Package not found means Samsung Phone is not installed and vulnerability does not apply
  2. Retrieve installed Samsung Phone version
    Run: adb shell dumpsys package com.samsung.android.app.phone | grep versionName (or com.sec.android.phone if that is the actual package)
    Affected if No version returned indicates the package name may differ; try alternative package names
  3. Compare version against affected ranges
    Compare the installed version number to: < 12.7.20.12, < 13.1.48, >= 13.5.0 and < 13.5.28, or < 14.7.38. Determine which Android version is running: adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release
    Affected if Installed version falls into any of these ranges indicates vulnerability is present
  4. Verify location feature is in use
    Check if location-related features in Phone app are enabled. This is implicit based on app usage; the vulnerability applies when the app transmits location data via intents during normal operation
    Affected if Samsung Phone is actively used for calls or location-sharing features, which triggers the vulnerable intent handling

User is affected if Samsung Phone app is installed with a version matching any of the vulnerable ranges AND the app is used in a way that triggers location data transmission.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 12.7.20.12 / 13.1.48 / 13.5.28 or later
Fixed in 12.7.20.1213.1.4813.5.28
Interim mitigation

Update Samsung Phone app to version 12.7.20.12 or later on Android 11, 13.1.48/13.5.28 or later on Android 12, and 14.7.38 or later on Android 13 to replace implicit intents with explicit intents for sensitive location data transmission.

Recommended fix High confidence

12.7.20.12 (Android 11), 13.1.48 or 13.5.28 (Android 12), 14.7.38 (Android 13)

  1. Open Samsung Galaxy Store or Google Play Store on the device
  2. Search for 'Samsung Phone' or 'Phone' app
  3. Tap Update to install the latest version of the Samsung Phone app
  4. Verify the installed version matches one of the fixed releases: 12.7.20.12 (Android 11), 13.1.48 or 13.5.28 (Android 12), or 14.7.38 (Android 13)

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Phone 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-2023-42545 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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