Local privilege escalation via non-dynamic permission removal
Published Mar 24, 2023 · Updated Feb 25, 2025
Incorrect authorization in Android 12, 12L, 13, and 14 allows local users to obtain dangerous permissions without user interaction. The removePermission method in PermissionManagerServiceImpl logs a forbidden non-dynamic permission request but fails to return, then deletes it from the registry. A local app with low privileges can exploit this path to gain permissions that the user did not approve.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect authorization in Android 12, 12L, 13, and 14 allows local users to obtain dangerous permissions without user interaction. The removePermission method in PermissionManagerServiceImpl logs a forbidden non-dynamic permission request but fails to return, then deletes it from the registry. A local app with low privileges can exploit this path to gain permissions that the user did not approve.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-20971
- Published
- Mar 24, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 25, 2025
- Vendor
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-863, T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 24, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 25, 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=12
- Affected versionversion=12L
- Affected versionversion=13
- Affected versionversion=14
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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