CVE-2026-21082 in Health
Summary
by MITRE • 08/10/2026
Relative path traversal in Samsung Health prior to version 7.0.0 allows local attackers to access sensitive information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/10/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical path traversal flaw that affected Samsung Health applications prior to version 7.0.0, creating significant security risks for users of the mobile health platform. The issue stems from inadequate input validation and improper handling of file paths within the application's file system operations. Local attackers with access to the device can exploit this weakness to navigate outside the intended application data directories and access sensitive user health information, personal medical records, and other confidential data stored by the application.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the application's failure to properly sanitize or validate file path inputs before processing them within the file system. When Samsung Health processes user requests for health data or file operations, it does not sufficiently verify that the requested paths remain within the designated application sandbox. This allows attackers to manipulate file access requests using relative path references such as ../../../etc/passwd or similar traversal sequences that can bypass normal access controls and reveal sensitive information stored in other parts of the device's file system.
From an operational security perspective, this vulnerability creates severe implications for user privacy and data protection within mobile health applications. The exposure of sensitive medical information through local path traversal attacks directly impacts the confidentiality and integrity of personal health data as defined by various privacy regulations including hipaa and gdpr requirements. Attackers could potentially access not only health metrics and activity tracking data but also personal identifiers, medical history, and other protected health information that users expect to remain confidential within the application environment.
The vulnerability aligns with common weakness enumerations such as CWE-22, which specifically addresses path traversal vulnerabilities in software applications. This classification indicates that the flaw represents a well-documented security issue where applications fail to properly validate or sanitize file paths before using them in file system operations. From an attack framework perspective, this vulnerability could be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1059 for command and script interpreter execution combined with T1074 for data staged for exfiltration, as attackers would likely attempt to gather and extract sensitive information from the compromised application environment.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate application updates to version 7.0.0 or later, which includes proper input validation mechanisms and path sanitization routines. Organizations should implement strict file path validation that ensures all requested paths remain within designated application directories and reject any attempts to traverse outside the intended file system boundaries. Additionally, comprehensive security testing including dynamic analysis and static code review should be performed to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities in other mobile health applications. Regular security updates and patch management processes are essential to protect against such local privilege escalation attacks that can compromise user privacy and data integrity within mobile health ecosystems.