Threats / Samsung / CVE-2021-25371
CVE-2021-25371
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Samsung Mobile Devices vulnerability
Samsung mobile devices contain an unspecified vulnerability in the DSP driver that permits attackers to load arbitrary ELF libraries into the DSP, potentially enabling code execution at the DSP privilege level.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
This vulnerability allows unauthorized code execution within the Digital Signal Processor through improper validation of loaded libraries. The DSP operates at a privileged level with access to sensitive hardware resources, making successful exploitation a significant security concern for affected de
CISA KEV Yes · 2023-06-295EPSS 0.00802 (verify live)6CVSS 6.13CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
2 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-06-29).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.00802 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 6.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Samsung, Mobile Devices. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-912 Hidden Functionality.CWE — CNA-assigned (CVE.org); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 825 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
WeaknessCWE-912 · Hidden Functionality
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious ELF library designed to execute within the DSP environment.
Business
Device security boundary is compromised, exposing DSP-level access to untrusted code.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I deliver the malicious library to the target device through a vector that reaches the DSP driver.
Business
Attack surface expands beyond application layer to firmware-level components.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I load the ELF library into the DSP, bypassing validation controls.
Business
Attacker gains execution privileges within a protected processor subsystem.
4
Data at risk — exfiltration narrative 4
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code with DSP-level privileges to access sensitive hardware or intercept communications.
Business
Confidentiality and integrity of device operations are compromised at the hardware level.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by Samsung MobileCNA
Credited with finding itNo finder is named in the public CVE record or the scanned vendor advisory — attribution scoped to the sources checked.
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
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