CVE-2025-20938
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 · uneditedImproper access control in SamsungContacts prior to SMR Apr-2025 Release 1 allows local attackers to access protected data in SamsungContacts.
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 confidenceImproper access control in SamsungContacts prior to SMR Apr-2025 Release 1 allows a local attacker to bypass standard permission checks and access protected contact data stored within the SamsungContacts application.
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= 14.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Android version is 14.0Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version. Confirm the installed Android version is exactly 14.0.Affected if Android version is 14.0 and the SMR (Samsung Maintenance Release) is earlier than Apr-2025 Release 1.
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Check SamsungContacts app versionGo to Settings > Apps > SamsungContacts (or Contacts) > Version info. Note the installed version number.Affected if SamsungContacts app version is present on an Android 14.0 Samsung device without the Apr-2025 security patch.
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Verify SMR patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Software Information > SMR (Samsung Maintenance Release) information. Check the SMR date and build number.Affected if The SMR shows a date earlier than April 2025 or does not include the Apr-2025 Release 1 security update.
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Confirm contact storage accessCheck if any third-party or non-system app can read the protected contact database stored by SamsungContacts. This requires examining app permissions and data directory access.Affected if Non-privileged apps without READ_CONTACTS permission can access contact data stored within SamsungContacts private storage.
A Samsung Android 14.0 device is affected if the SamsungContacts app is installed and the device security patch level is earlier than SMR Apr-2025 Release 1, allowing unauthorized access to protected contact data.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the Samsung SMR Apr-2025 Release 1 or later security update to affected Galaxy devices to patch the access control vulnerability in SamsungContacts.
SMR Apr-2025 Release 1
- Check for system updates on your Samsung Android device
- Navigate to Settings > Software update > Download and install
- Apply the SMR Apr-2025 Release 1 security update which contains the fix for the improper access control vulnerability in SamsungContacts
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20938 — 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-2025-20938 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
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- 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