AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2025-48626

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-08
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 an application from the background due to a precondition check failure. This could lead to remote 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 precondition check failure in multiple locations allows launching an application from the background, enabling remote escalation of privilege without additional execution privileges or user interaction. The vulnerability stems from missing or incorrect validation checks that should verify the application's state before allowing background launching.

MitigationApply vendor-provided patches addressing the precondition check failures in the affected application launching mechanisms; prioritize urgent deployment given the critical severity and exploitability requiring no user interaction.

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. Identify the Android version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB
    Affected if The Android version is 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0 and the vendor security patch level is earlier than the fix date for CVE-2025-48626
  2. Verify the vendor 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 date when the fix for this CVE was released by the Android manufacturer
  3. Review background app launch permissions
    Navigate to Settings > Apps > Special app access > Background app launch or similar path depending on device manufacturer, and check which apps have permission to launch in the background
    Affected if Apps are permitted to launch in the background without explicit user initiation
  4. Check for unusual background activity
    Review battery and data usage reports in Settings > Network and Internet > Data saver or Settings > Battery to identify apps with unexpected background activity patterns
    Affected if Apps are exhibiting background launch or activity patterns that were not initiated by the user

A device is affected if it runs Android 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, or 16.0 and has not received the vendor security patch addressing CVE-2025-48626, allowing apps to be launched from the background without user interaction.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-provided patches addressing the precondition check failures in the affected application launching mechanisms; prioritize urgent deployment given the critical severity and exploitability requiring no user interaction.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Apply the Android security patch that includes commit 9fb37191609f7cb7b2374531cafb2d00ec8b4bec from the frameworks/base repository
  2. This patch addresses the precondition check failure that allows background application launch
  3. Ensure your Android device receives the monthly security update containing this fix
  4. Verify the patch has been applied by checking your device's security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the patch applied

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-48626 — 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-2025-48626 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