Local privilege escalation via premature overlay trust
Published Dec 8, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026
Improper UI-layer restriction in the Android Framework on Android 14 through 16 allows local users to elevate privileges via an overlay. WindowManager granted TRUSTED_OVERLAY from a pinned-state notification before WMShell confirmed a successful picture-in-picture transition. A low-privileged app can reach the flaw without user interaction and obtain permissions that the device owner did not approve.
Summary
What happened
Improper UI-layer restriction in the Android Framework on Android 14 through 16 allows local users to elevate privileges via an overlay. WindowManager granted TRUSTED_OVERLAY from a pinned-state notification before WMShell confirmed a successful picture-in-picture transition. A low-privileged app can reach the flaw without user interaction and obtain permissions that the device owner did not approve.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-48597
- Published
- Dec 8, 2025
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Google Cloud
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-1021, T1626, T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 8, 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=14
- Affected versionversion=15
- Affected versionversion=16
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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