VulnerabilityPublished 4 Sep 2025Updated 26 Feb 2026

CVE-2025-26427: Google Android · Elevation of Privilege

Affects Google AndroidSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.4 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.4Medium

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:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: Low
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: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to 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 4 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

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Google Android	Affected =14 =13	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2025-26427, organizations and users should: 1) Restrict installation of applications from untrusted or unknown sources to reduce the risk of malicious apps exploiting the vulnerability. 2) Educate users about the risks of interacting with unverified files or links that could trigger the exploit. 3) Employ mobile device management (MDM) solutions to enforce security policies and control app permissions, limiting access to sensitive directories like Android/data. 4) Monitor for official security updates from Google and apply patches promptly once released. 5) Use runtime application self-protection (RASP) or endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools capable of detecting suspicious local privilege escalation attempts. 6) Implement least privilege principles on devices, ensuring apps have only necessary permissions. 7) Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing on mobile environments to identify and remediate similar path traversal or privilege escalation issues proactively. These targeted measures go beyond generic advice by focusing on user behavior, app control, and proactive monitoring specific to the nature of this vulnerability.

Description

In multiple locations, there is a possible Android/data access due to a path traversal error. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2025-26427 is a local elevation of privilege on Android devices running versions 13 and 14. Attackers with local access and the ability to trick users into interaction could exploit the path traversal flaw to access or modify sensitive data within the Android/data directory, potentially compromising user privacy and application data integrity. While the vulnerability does not allow remote exploitation or denial of service, the ability to escalate privileges locally can facilitate further attacks, such as installing persistent malware or accessing restricted system components. Organizations relying on Android devices for sensitive communications or data storage could face data leakage or unauthorized data modification risks. The requirement for user interaction and local access limits the scope but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments where users may install untrusted apps or open suspicious files. The absence of known exploits in the wild suggests limited current impact, but the widespread use of Android 13 and 14 globally means the vulnerability could be leveraged in targeted attacks or by advanced threat actors once exploit code becomes available.

CWE-24Path Traversal: '../filedir' (opens in a new tab)
Variant weakness
The product uses external input to construct a pathname that should be within a restricted directory, but it does not properly neutralize "../" sequences that can resolve to a location that is outside of that directory.
Implementation · Input Validation
Assume all input is malicious. Use an "accept known good" input validation strategy, i.e., use a list of acceptable inputs that strictly conform to specifications. Reject any input that does not strictly conform to specifications, or transform it into something that does.
Implementation · Input Validation
Inputs should be decoded and canonicalized to the application's current internal representation before being validated (CWE-180). Make sure that the application does not decode the same input twice (CWE-174).
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 27 Feb 2026, 01:15 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-24

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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