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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 23 Oct 2025.
AndroidOperating system · Samsung

CVE-2025-21043

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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
Out-of-bounds write in libimagecodec.quram.so prior to SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.

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

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in libimagecodec.quram.so (an image codec library) on Samsung mobile devices prior to the SMR September-2025 release allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via specially crafted image files.

MitigationApply the Samsung September 2025 security update (SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 or later) to all affected devices to patch the vulnerable libimagecodec.quram.so library.

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:= 13.0= 14.0= 15.0= 16.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Verify device is a Samsung Android device
    Check device manufacturer and model via 'getprop ro.product.brand' and 'getprop ro.product.model' or check Settings > About Phone > Device name
    Affected if Device manufacturer is not Samsung
  2. Confirm Android version matches affected releases
    Check Android version via 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or Settings > About Phone > Android version
    Affected if Version equals 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0
  3. Locate the vulnerable library file
    Search for libimagecodec.quram.so on the device filesystem, typically in /system/lib64/ or /vendor/lib64/ directories using 'find / -name libimagecodec.quram.so 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The library file exists on the device (vulnerable component is present)
  4. Check the installed security patch level
    Check security patch date via 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' or Settings > About Phone > Software information > Security patch level
    Affected if Security patch level is earlier than September 2025 (SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 not applied)

The device is affected if it is a Samsung Android device running version 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0 with the libimagecodec.quram.so library present and a security patch level before the September 2025 update.

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 Samsung September 2025 security update (SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 or later) to all affected devices to patch the vulnerable libimagecodec.quram.so library.

Recommended fix High confidence

SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 (Samsung Mobile Security Maintenance Release)

  1. Verify your Samsung device model is eligible for the SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 security update
  2. Navigate to Settings > Security and privacy on your Samsung Android device
  3. Check for system updates and install any available updates
  4. Ensure the installed security patch level is September-2025 or later
  5. After updating, verify the security patch date in Settings > About phone > Software information shows the September-2025 security patch

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

Fix this in Android Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,120
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-21043 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