CVE-2023-21434
Published: 09 February 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-21434 is a medium-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Samsung Galaxy Store. Its CVSS base score is 6.2 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 27.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Deeper analysis
CVE-2023-21434 is an improper input validation flaw, also categorized under CWE-79, that affects Galaxy Store versions prior to 4.5.49.8. The vulnerability permits a locally launched web page to execute arbitrary JavaScript within the store application, resulting in a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.2 driven by local attack vector, low complexity, and high confidentiality impact without requiring privileges or user interaction.
Local attackers can exploit the issue simply by causing the vulnerable store component to load a crafted web page, thereby obtaining unauthorized access to sensitive application data or internal resources exposed through the JavaScript execution context. Because the attack occurs entirely on-device and needs no remote delivery or elevated rights, it can be triggered from any installed application or process capable of invoking a browser intent against Galaxy Store.
Samsung Mobile Security bulletins published in January 2023 list the corrected Galaxy Store build and advise users to install updates through the standard system update mechanism or Galaxy Store itself to eliminate the input-validation weakness.
EPSS for the CVE rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.1142 on 2025-12-11 before receding to the current value of 0.0070, indicating a period of increased exploitation interest well after initial disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-25602
Vulnerability details
Improper input validation vulnerability in Galaxy Store prior to version 4.5.49.8 allows local attackers to execute JavaScript by launching a web page.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Directly implements checks on information inputs to reject invalid data before processing.
Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.
Security testing and developer training directly verify and enforce proper input validation, reducing exploitability of injection and malformed-data weaknesses.
Security testing and evaluation at multiple SDLC stages directly detects missing or flawed input validation, with the required remediation process ensuring fixes are applied.
Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.
Spam protection mechanisms perform filtering and detection on inbound/outbound messages, directly compensating for missing or weak input validation of unsolicited content.