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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2025-48588: Google Android · Elevation of Privilege

Affects Google AndroidSource CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.09% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 8 Dec 2025

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Google AndroidAffected
  • =15
  • =14
  • =13
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Apply official security patches from Google as soon as they are released for Android versions 13, 14, and 15. 2. Until patches are available, restrict local access to devices by enforcing strong physical security controls and limiting user privileges to the minimum necessary. 3. Employ mobile device management (MDM) solutions to monitor VPN status and enforce VPN policies, alerting administrators if always-on VPN is disabled unexpectedly. 4. Use endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools capable of detecting privilege escalation attempts and anomalous changes to VPN configurations. 5. Educate users about the risks of granting local access to untrusted parties and the importance of device security hygiene. 6. Consider deploying additional network-level protections such as network access control (NAC) to detect and block devices that do not comply with VPN policies. 7. Regularly audit device configurations and logs for signs of tampering with VPN settings. 8. For highly sensitive environments, consider using hardware-backed security features or trusted execution environments to protect VPN configurations from unauthorized modification.

Description

In startAlwaysOnVpn of Vpn.java, there is a possible way to disable always-on VPN due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

References

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