Boot-loop denial of service via unbounded shortcuts
Published May 15, 2023 · Updated Jan 24, 2025
Resource exhaustion in Android 11, 12, 12L, and 13 allows local users to force a device into a boot loop via dynamic shortcut publication. ShortcutPackage.pushDynamicShortcut can keep accumulating shortcuts per application because it does not enforce a system-wide maximum, including when previously removed entries are republished. An installed app needs no additional execution privileges or user interaction, and exhausting system memory leaves the device repeatedly unable to complete startup.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in Android 11, 12, 12L, and 13 allows local users to force a device into a boot loop via dynamic shortcut publication. ShortcutPackage.pushDynamicShortcut can keep accumulating shortcuts per application because it does not enforce a system-wide maximum, including when previously removed entries are republished. An installed app needs no additional execution privileges or user interaction, and exhausting system memory leaves the device repeatedly unable to complete startup.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-20930
- Published
- May 15, 2023
- Updated
- Jan 24, 2025
- Vendor
- Google Cloud
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-770, CWE-400, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 15, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 24, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L Android-13
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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