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

CVE-2025-48572

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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 multiple locations, there is a possible way to launch activities from the background due to a permissions bypass. 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

This is an Android permissions bypass vulnerability allowing malicious activities to be launched from the background, enabling local privilege escalation without user interaction or additional execution privileges. The flaw exists in multiple locations within the Android framework.

MitigationApply the latest Android security patch level from Google or your device manufacturer to address the permissions bypass in activity launch controls.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Identify installed Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if The version reads exactly 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0 - these are the affected versions
  2. Check security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the vendor release containing the CVE-2025-48572 fix (no specific date provided, compare to current vendor bulletins)
  3. Verify if background activity restrictions are in place
    Review app-level launch controls in Settings > Apps > Special app access > Display over other apps, or check if device is running in a locked-down enterprise profile with activity launch restrictions enabled
    Affected if No app-level restrictions are configured and the device runs an affected Android version

A device is affected if it runs Android 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0 and lacks the vendor security patch for CVE-2025-48572, allowing unprivileged background activity launches.

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 latest Android security patch level from Google or your device manufacturer to address the permissions bypass in activity launch controls.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest Android security patch level (typically included in monthly Android Security Bulletin for the month containing the CVE fix)

  1. 1. Check the current Android security patch level on the device by navigating to Settings > About Phone > Android version > Security patch level
  2. 2. Update the device to the latest available Android system update through Settings > System > Software Update
  3. 3. Ensure the device receives the security patch level that includes the fix for CVE-2025-48572
  4. 4. Verify the update was successful by confirming the new security patch level in Settings > About Phone
Caveat Standard Android update risks - ensure backup of important data before updating

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
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,120
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-48572 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-48572 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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