AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2023-42677

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-04
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 imsservice, there is a possible way to write permission usage records of an app due to a missing permission check. This could lead to local information disclosure with no additional execution privileges needed

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 imsservice (IMS - IP Multimedia Subsystem service on Android), a missing permission check allows an attacker to write permission usage records for any app without proper authorization. This enables local information disclosure of permission usage patterns without requiring elevated privileges.

MitigationImplement proper permission validation in imsservice to verify the caller has appropriate authorization before allowing write access to permission usage records. Apply Android permission enforcement best practices.

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= 12.0= 13.0

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. Verify Android version
    Check the device Android version via Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if The version is 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 exactly (these are the affected versions per the CVE)
  2. Confirm imsservice presence
    Check if the IMS service is installed by running 'adb shell pm list packages | grep ims' or 'adb shell dumpsys package com.android.ims'
    Affected if The imsservice (com.android.ims) package exists on the device - this is the vulnerable component
  3. Check service accessibility
    Attempt to query the service via 'adb shell service check iphonesubervice' or check service list for IMS-related services with 'adb shell service list | grep -i ims'
    Affected if The IMS service is listed as accessible without requiring elevated/system privileges
  4. Inspect permission enforcement
    Review the imsservice APK permissions and manifest with 'adb shell dumpsys package com.android.ims' and look for the WRITE_USAGE_STATS or equivalent permission handling
    Affected if The service lacks proper permission validation before allowing write access to permission usage records

A device is affected if it runs Android 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 AND has the imsservice (com.android.ims) installed with missing authorization checks for writing permission usage records.

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 validation in imsservice to verify the caller has appropriate authorization before allowing write access to permission usage records. Apply Android permission enforcement best practices.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2023-42677 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