CVE-2025-26436

Local privilege escalation via retained BAL duration

Published Sep 4, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026

Incorrect authorization in Android 13 through 15 allows local users to elevate privileges by launching an activity from the background. PendingIntentRecord.clearAllowBgActivityStarts cleared token-based allowances but retained duration-based background-activity-launch privileges. A locally installed application can exploit the stale allowance without user interaction or additional execution privileges, bypassing background-start restrictions.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.09%
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

Incorrect authorization in Android 13 through 15 allows local users to elevate privileges by launching an activity from the background. PendingIntentRecord.clearAllowBgActivityStarts cleared token-based allowances but retained duration-based background-activity-launch privileges. A locally installed application can exploit the stale allowance without user interaction or additional execution privileges, bypassing background-start restrictions.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-26436
Published
Sep 4, 2025
Updated
Feb 26, 2026
Vendor
Google Cloud
Product
Android
Classifications
CWE-863, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 26, 2026Record 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=13
  2. Affected versionversion=14
  3. Affected versionversion=15

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google Cloud · Androidversion=13; version=14; version=15

Published CVSS scores

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

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization
T1068Exploitation 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