Headline
CVE-2021-0391: Android Security Bulletin—March 2021
In onCreate() of ChooseTypeAndAccountActivity.java, there is a possible way to learn the existence of an account, without permissions, due to a tapjacking/overlay attack. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with User execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-11 Android-8.1 Android-9 Android-10Android ID: A-172841550
Published March 1, 2021 | Updated March 3, 2021
The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. Security patch levels of 2021-03-05 or later address all of these issues. To learn how to check a device’s security patch level, see Check and update your Android version.
Android partners are notified of all issues at least a month before publication. Source code patches for these issues have been released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository and linked from this bulletin. This bulletin also includes links to patches outside of AOSP.
The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in the System component that could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted transmission to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process. The severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are turned off for development purposes or if successfully bypassed.
Refer to the Android and Google Play Protect mitigations section for details on the Android security platform protections and Google Play Protect, which improve the security of the Android platform.
Android and Google service mitigations
This is a summary of the mitigations provided by the Android security platform and service protections such as Google Play Protect. These capabilities reduce the likelihood that security vulnerabilities could be successfully exploited on Android.
- Exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult by enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform. We encourage all users to update to the latest version of Android where possible.
- The Android security team actively monitors for abuse through Google Play Protect and warns users about Potentially Harmful Applications. Google Play Protect is enabled by default on devices with Google Mobile Services, and is especially important for users who install apps from outside of Google Play.
2021-03-01 security patch level vulnerability details
In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2021-03-01 patch level. Vulnerabilities are grouped under the component they affect. Issues are described in the tables below and include CVE ID, associated references, type of vulnerability, severity, and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID. Devices with Android 10 and later may receive security updates as well as Google Play system updates.
Android runtime
The vulnerability in this section could enable a local attacker to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process.
CVE
References
Type
Severity
Updated AOSP versions
CVE-2021-0395
A-170315126
EoP
High
11
Framework
The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a local attacker with privileged access to gain access to sensitive data.
CVE
References
Type
Severity
Updated AOSP versions
CVE-2021-0391
A-172841550
EoP
High
8.1, 9, 10, 11
CVE-2021-0398
A-173516292
EoP
High
11
System
The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a remote attacker using a specially crafted transmission to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process.
CVE
References
Type
Severity
Updated AOSP versions
CVE-2021-0397
A-174052148
RCE
Critical
8.1, 9, 10, 11
CVE-2017-14491
A-158221622
RCE
High
8.1, 9, 10, 11
CVE-2021-0393
A-168041375
RCE
High
8.1, 9, 10, 11
CVE-2021-0396
A-160610106
RCE
High
8.1, 9, 10, 11
CVE-2021-0390
A-174749461
EoP
High
8.1, 9, 10, 11
CVE-2021-0392
A-175124730
EoP
High
9, 10, 11
CVE-2021-0394
A-172655291 [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
ID
High
8.1, 9, 10, 11
Google Play system updates
The following issues are included in Project Mainline components.
Component
CVE
WiFi
CVE-2021-0390
2021-03-05 security patch level vulnerability details
In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2021-03-05 patch level. Vulnerabilities are grouped under the component they affect. Issues are described in the tables below and include CVE ID, associated references, type of vulnerability, severity, and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID.
Kernel components
The vulnerability in this section could enable a local attacker using a specially crafted file to execute arbitrary code within the context of a privileged process.
CVE
References
Type
Severity
Component
CVE-2021-0399
A-176919394
Upstream kernel [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
EoP
High
xt_qtaguid
Qualcomm components
These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm components and are described in further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm security bulletin or security alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm.
CVE
References
Severity
Component
CVE-2020-11223
A-172349026
QC-CR#2721399*
High
Camera
CVE-2020-11290
A-168917883
QC-CR#2761634
High
Display
CVE-2020-11308
A-175038288
QC-CR#2783331
High
Bootloader
CVE-2020-11309
A-175038160
QC-CR#2783659
High
Display
Qualcomm closed-source components
These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm closed-source components and are described in further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm security bulletin or security alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm.
CVE
References
Severity
Component
CVE-2020-11192
A-168050025*
Critical
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11204
A-162750025*
Critical
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11218
A-168049956*
Critical
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11227
A-168050276*
Critical
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11228
A-168050345*
Critical
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11165
A-160605782*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11166
A-168051733*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11171
A-168050346*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11178
A-160605529*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11186
A-168049957*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11188
A-168050859*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11189
A-168051051*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11190
A-168051033*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11194
A-162756908*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11195
A-162756604*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11198
A-162756735*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11199
A-168050860*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11220
A-168050239*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11221
A-168051035*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11222
A-168050578*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11226
A-168050240*
High
Closed-source component
CVE-2020-11299
A-175038625*
High
Closed-source component
Common questions and answers
This section answers common questions that may occur after reading this bulletin.
1. How do I determine if my device is updated to address these issues?
To learn how to check a device’s security patch level, see Check and update your Android version.
- Security patch levels of 2021-03-01 or later address all issues associated with the 2021-03-01 security patch level.
- Security patch levels of 2021-03-05 or later address all issues associated with the 2021-03-05 security patch level and all previous patch levels.
Device manufacturers that include these updates should set the patch string level to:
- [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2021-03-01]
- [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2021-03-05]
For some devices on Android 10 or later, the Google Play system update will have a date string that matches the 2021-03-01 security patch level. Please see this article for more details on how to install security updates.
2. Why does this bulletin have two security patch levels?
This bulletin has two security patch levels so that Android partners have the flexibility to fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices more quickly. Android partners are encouraged to fix all issues in this bulletin and use the latest security patch level.
- Devices that use the 2021-03-01 security patch level must include all issues associated with that security patch level, as well as fixes for all issues reported in previous security bulletins.
- Devices that use the security patch level of 2021-03-05 or newer must include all applicable patches in this (and previous) security bulletins.
Partners are encouraged to bundle the fixes for all issues they are addressing in a single update.
3. What do the entries in the Type column mean?
Entries in the Type column of the vulnerability details table reference the classification of the security vulnerability.
Abbreviation
Definition
RCE
Remote code execution
EoP
Elevation of privilege
ID
Information disclosure
DoS
Denial of service
N/A
Classification not available
4. What do the entries in the References column mean?
Entries under the References column of the vulnerability details table may contain a prefix identifying the organization to which the reference value belongs.
Prefix
Reference
A-
Android bug ID
QC-
Qualcomm reference number
M-
MediaTek reference number
N-
NVIDIA reference number
B-
Broadcom reference number
5. What does an * next to the Android bug ID in the References column mean?
Issues that are not publicly available have an * next to the corresponding reference ID. The update for that issue is generally contained in the latest binary drivers for Pixel devices available from the Google Developer site.
6. Why are security vulnerabilities split between this bulletin and device / partner security bulletins, such as the Pixel bulletin?
Security vulnerabilities that are documented in this security bulletin are required to declare the latest security patch level on Android devices. Additional security vulnerabilities that are documented in the device / partner security bulletins are not required for declaring a security patch level. Android device and chipset manufacturers may also publish security vulnerability details specific to their products, such as Google, Huawei, LGE, Motorola, Nokia, or Samsung.
Versions
Version
Date
Notes
1.0
March 1, 2021
Bulletin released
1.1
March 3, 2021
Bulletin revised to include AOSP links
Related news
A flaw was found in dnsmasq before version 2.83. When getting a reply from a forwarded query, dnsmasq checks in forward.c:reply_query(), which is the forwarded query that matches the reply, by only using a weak hash of the query name. Due to the weak hash (CRC32 when dnsmasq is compiled without DNSSEC, SHA-1 when it is) this flaw allows an off-path attacker to find several different domains all having the same hash, substantially reducing the number of attempts they would have to perform to forge a reply and get it accepted by dnsmasq. This is in contrast with RFC5452, which specifies that the query name is one of the attributes of a query that must be used to match a reply. This flaw could be abused to perform a DNS Cache Poisoning attack. If chained with CVE-2020-25684 the attack complexity of a successful attack is reduced. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data integrity.
Improper bounds checking in Dnsmasq before 2.76 allows an attacker controlled DNS server to send large DNS packets that result in a read operation beyond the buffer allocated for the packet, a different vulnerability than CVE-2017-14491.