CVE-2025-20960 in Samsung
Summary
by MITRE • 05/07/2025
Improper handling of insufficient permission in CocktailBarService prior to SMR May-2025 Release 1 allows local attackers to use the privileged api.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/07/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-20960 represents a critical authorization flaw within the CocktailBarService component of a mobile operating system platform. This issue stems from improper handling of insufficient permission scenarios, creating a privilege escalation vector that can be exploited by local attackers. The vulnerability affects systems prior to the SMR May-2025 Release 1, indicating that it has been present in multiple versions and represents a long-standing security weakness in the platform's access control mechanisms.
The technical flaw manifests in the CocktailBarService's failure to properly validate and enforce permission boundaries when processing API requests. When the service encounters operations that require elevated privileges but receives requests from unprivileged processes, it fails to reject these requests appropriately. This improper handling creates a scenario where local attackers can leverage the service's privileged API endpoints to execute unauthorized operations. The vulnerability specifically affects the service's permission checking logic, which should normally validate that incoming requests originate from processes with appropriate credentials or capabilities before granting access to sensitive functionality.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability enables local attackers to escalate their privileges and gain access to system resources that should be restricted to privileged processes only. The exploitation of this flaw can lead to complete system compromise, allowing attackers to access sensitive user data, modify system configurations, or even install malicious software with elevated privileges. The local nature of the attack means that an attacker must first gain access to the device, but once achieved, the vulnerability provides a pathway to significantly elevate their privileges within the system. This represents a serious threat to device security and user privacy, particularly in environments where physical access to devices may be possible.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with privilege escalation attacks documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation tactic. Organizations should prioritize applying the SMR May-2025 Release 1 patch or equivalent mitigations to address this vulnerability. Additionally, system administrators should implement monitoring for unauthorized API access attempts and consider implementing additional security controls such as process isolation and enhanced permission auditing. The remediation approach should include comprehensive testing to ensure that permission boundaries are properly enforced and that the service correctly validates all incoming requests before granting privileged access to its API endpoints.