AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2024-40672

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
89/100
Remediation priority · High
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
In onCreate of ChooserActivity.java, there is a possible way to bypass factory reset protections due to a missing permission check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

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 the onCreate method of ChooserActivity.java in Android allows a local attacker to bypass factory reset protection (FRP) mechanisms. This enables privilege escalation without requiring additional execution privileges or user interaction, potentially allowing unauthorized device reset and takeover.

MitigationApply the security patch that adds proper permission validation in ChooserActivity.onCreate() to ensure factory reset protection checks are enforced before allowing reset operations.

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:= 12.0= 12.1= 13.0= 14.0

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Check Android version number
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version (or Settings > System > Software version on some devices) and note the displayed version
    Affected if The version shown is exactly 12.0, 12.1, 13.0, or 14.0
  2. Verify build number matches affected releases
    In Settings > About Phone > Build number, confirm the build corresponds to Android 12, 12.1, 13, or 14 official releases
    Affected if The build indicates Android 12, 12.1, 13, or 14 and the version matches the affected list
  3. Confirm device has FRP protection enabled
    After a factory reset, observe if the device prompts for the previously associated Google account credentials before allowing full setup (this indicates FRP is active)
    Affected if FRP protection is present but the device allows bypassing this check through ChooserActivity exploitation
  4. Check for unexpected account access
    Review Settings > Accounts to see if a previously linked Google account is missing or if an unknown account has been added after a factory reset
    Affected if The device was factory reset and FRP was bypassed allowing unauthorized account access

The device is affected if it runs Android 12.0, 12.1, 13.0, or 14.0 and an unauthorized party could bypass Factory Reset Protection to gain access without the original account credentials.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the security patch that adds proper permission validation in ChooserActivity.onCreate() to ensure factory reset protection checks are enforced before allowing reset operations.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Android 15 (API level 35) or September 2024 security patch level

  1. 1. Navigate to Settings > System > Software Update on the affected Android device
  2. 2. Check for and install the latest Android security patch level update
  3. 3. If available, upgrade the device to Android 15 (API level 35) which contains the fix for the missing permission check in ChooserActivity
  4. 4. Verify the device is running security patch level September 2024 or later
Caveat Upgrading to Android 15 may introduce behavioral changes in system apps; verify app compatibility before deployment in enterprise environments

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
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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-2024-40672 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