Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-21043

Memory Safety in Samsung Android 13.0 … 16.0

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedMemory Safety
Published
12 September 2025
Modified
30 October 2025
KEV Added
02 October 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.019 78th percentile
Risk Priority 90 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-21043 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Samsung Android. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 22% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-21043 is an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in libimagecodec.quram.so prior to SMR Sep-2025 Release 1. The flaw is tracked under CWE-787 and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.8, reflecting a network-accessible issue that requires no privileges but does involve user interaction.

Remote attackers can exploit the weakness to execute arbitrary code on affected Samsung devices, with the attack vector, lack of required authentication, and high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability all confirmed by the CVSS vector string.

Samsung’s September 2025 security maintenance release addresses the issue, and the vulnerability appears in CISA’s known exploited vulnerabilities catalog, indicating confirmed in-the-wild use.

EPSS for the CVE rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.1144 on 2025-12-11 before receding to the current value of 0.0491, demonstrating a clear post-disclosure increase in exploitation interest.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Out-of-bounds write in libimagecodec.quram.so prior to SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
02 October 2025

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-30669Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2023-42557Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2025-20937Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2025-20943Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2023-30670Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2023-42560Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2025-20963Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2024-20863Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2023-30648Same product: Samsung Android
CVE-2023-42535Same product: Samsung Android

Affected Assets

samsung
android
13.0, 14.0, 15.0, 16.0

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and bounds checks) finds out-of-bounds write flaws before deployment.

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

Input validation can structurally reject or sanitize data that would otherwise trigger an out-of-bounds write.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the exploitability and blast radius of a successful out-of-bounds write.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References