Local privilege escalation via biometric prompt overlay
Published Sep 4, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026
Local privilege escalation in Android 15 and 16 allows local users to overlay biometric prompts without user interaction. AuthContainerView creates the prompt as an application-overlay window, allowing other SystemUI layers to appear above it instead of enforcing keyguard-level ordering. Exploitation requires code running locally on an affected device, but no added execution privileges or victim interaction.
Summary
What happened
Local privilege escalation in Android 15 and 16 allows local users to overlay biometric prompts without user interaction. AuthContainerView creates the prompt as an application-overlay window, allowing other SystemUI layers to appear above it instead of enforcing keyguard-level ordering. Exploitation requires code running locally on an affected device, but no added execution privileges or victim interaction.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-48528
- Published
- Sep 4, 2025
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Google Cloud
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-266, T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 4, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 26, 2026Record 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=15
- Affected versionversion=16
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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