CVE-2025-20957 in Samsung
Summary
by MITRE • 05/07/2025
Improper access control in SmartManagerCN prior to SMR May-2025 Release 1 allows local attackers to launch arbitrary activities with SmartManagerCN privilege.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-20957 represents a critical improper access control flaw within SmartManagerCN software prior to the SMR May-2025 Release 1 version. This weakness fundamentally undermines the security posture of the affected system by allowing local attackers to escalate their privileges and execute arbitrary activities with the elevated permissions granted to SmartManagerCN. The vulnerability exists in the privilege management mechanisms of the software, creating a pathway for unauthorized code execution that bypasses normal access controls and security boundaries.
This technical flaw stems from insufficient validation of privilege levels and access permissions within the SmartManagerCN application framework. The improper access control implementation fails to properly authenticate and authorize local users attempting to invoke privileged operations, enabling malicious actors who already have local system access to leverage this weakness for privilege escalation. The vulnerability manifests when local attackers can manipulate the application's internal privilege checking mechanisms or exploit race conditions in access control enforcement, allowing them to execute activities that should be restricted to authorized administrators or system processes.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted, as it provides local attackers with elevated privileges that can be used to compromise the entire system. Once exploited, attackers can perform actions such as modifying system configurations, installing malicious software, accessing sensitive data, or establishing persistent backdoors within the SmartManagerCN environment. This privilege escalation capability transforms a local access point into a potential system compromise vector, as the attacker can leverage the elevated privileges to move laterally within the network or target other systems that may trust the SmartManagerCN service. The vulnerability essentially creates a backdoor for malicious activity that operates with the full privileges of the SmartManagerCN application.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the SMR May-2025 Release 1 which contains the necessary patches to address the improper access control flaw. Additionally, system administrators should conduct thorough privilege reviews and implement least privilege principles for SmartManagerCN services to minimize potential impact from similar vulnerabilities. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unauthorized privilege escalation attempts, while regular security assessments should be performed to identify other potential access control weaknesses. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which specifically addresses improper access control issues, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege that is fundamental to secure system design. This weakness also maps to ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers local privilege escalation and demonstrates how attackers can exploit software vulnerabilities to gain elevated system access.