VulnerabilityPublished 3 Sep 2025

CVE-2025-21029: Samsung Mobile Devices · Improper Handling of Insufficient Permission

Affects Samsung Mobile DevicesSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.0 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.0Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 1% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 3 Sep 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-21029 effectively, European organizations should: 1) Ensure all Samsung Mobile Devices are updated promptly with the SMR September 2025 Release 1 or later, as this release addresses the vulnerability. 2) Implement strict physical security controls to prevent unauthorized local access to devices, including screen lock policies, biometric authentication, and timeout settings for the cover display. 3) Enforce mobile device management (MDM) policies that restrict or monitor the use of cover display features and messaging applications, potentially disabling cover display replies if feasible. 4) Educate users about the risks of leaving devices unattended and encourage reporting of suspicious device behavior. 5) Monitor messaging logs and alerts for anomalous outgoing messages that could indicate exploitation attempts. 6) Consider deploying endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions capable of detecting unusual local activity on mobile devices. 7) For high-risk environments, restrict the use of Samsung devices with vulnerable System UI versions or isolate them from sensitive communication channels until patched. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling local access, leveraging device management capabilities, and monitoring for exploitation indicators specific to this vulnerability.

Description

Improper handling of insufficient permission in System UI prior to SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 allows local attackers to send arbitrary replies to messages from the cover display.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily in scenarios where Samsung Mobile Devices are used as part of corporate communications or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies. The ability for a local attacker to send arbitrary message replies without proper permissions could lead to unauthorized information disclosure or manipulation of communication channels. Although the confidentiality impact is rated as none, the integrity of message content can be compromised, which may result in misinformation or unauthorized instructions being sent from a legitimate device. This could affect internal communications, customer interactions, or operational workflows relying on mobile messaging. The threat is more pronounced in environments where devices are shared, left unattended, or accessible to untrusted individuals. However, since exploitation requires local access and no user interaction, remote attackers or phishing campaigns are unlikely vectors. The lack of availability impact means device functionality remains intact, but trust in message authenticity could be undermined. Organizations handling sensitive communications or operating in regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, or government should be particularly cautious, as message integrity is critical. Additionally, the vulnerability could be exploited in targeted attacks against executives or personnel with access to sensitive information via mobile messaging.

CWE-280Improper Handling of Insufficient Permissions or Privileges (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessOWASP Top 10 A10:2025: Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions (opens in a new tab)
The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to access resources or functionality as specified by their permissions. This may cause it to follow unexpected code paths that may leave the product in an invalid state.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Compartmentalize the system to have "safe" areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area.
Implementation
Always check to see if you have successfully accessed a resource or system functionality, and use proper error handling if it is unsuccessful. Do this even when you are operating in a highly privileged mode, because errors or environmental conditions might still cause a failure.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Logging (opens in a new tab)
Error Handling (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

security.samsungmobile.com/securityUpdate.smsb?year=2025&month=09 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Sep 2025, 06:35 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-280

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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