CVE-2023-21139

Local privilege escalation via unsafe PendingIntent resolution

Published Jun 15, 2023 · Updated Dec 17, 2024

Unsafe Intent handling in Android 13 SystemUI allows local users to launch arbitrary activities and escalate privileges without interaction. MediaControlPanel.bindPlayer relied on ActivityIntentHelper to resolve the Intent inside a PendingIntent without accounting for its creator UID. A locally installed malicious app can supply the crafted media PendingIntent, causing privileged SystemUI to launch an unintended activity.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.08%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Unsafe Intent handling in Android 13 SystemUI allows local users to launch arbitrary activities and escalate privileges without interaction. MediaControlPanel.bindPlayer relied on ActivityIntentHelper to resolve the Intent inside a PendingIntent without accounting for its creator UID. A locally installed malicious app can supply the crafted media PendingIntent, causing privileged SystemUI to launch an unintended activity.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-21139
Published
Jun 15, 2023
Updated
Dec 17, 2024
Vendor
Google Cloud
Product
Android
Classifications
T1404
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 15, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Dec 17, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=Android-13

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google Cloud · Androidversion=Android-13

Published CVSS scores

7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1404Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo