CVE-2026-28648 in Android
Summary
by MITRE • 10/05/2026
In Settings, there is a possible permission bypass due to a confused deputy. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/05/2026
The vulnerability described represents a classic Confused Deputy problem within the system settings configuration interface, where an application or service acting on behalf of a user inadvertently performs actions that exceed its intended authorization level. This specific flaw allows for local escalation of privilege without requiring additional execution privileges from the attacker, indicating that the underlying mechanism fails to properly validate whether the entity requesting the permission change is authorized to do so in the current context. The absence of required user interaction significantly lowers the barrier to exploitation, allowing an adversary who has gained a foothold on the system or can trigger specific automated processes to silently elevate their privileges by manipulating these settings.
From a technical perspective, this issue stems from insufficient separation between identity and authorization checks during the processing of configuration changes. When the application requests access to sensitive system resources or modifies security policies through the Settings interface, it relies on assumptions about its own authority that are not rigorously enforced by the operating system's kernel or security subsystems. This misconfiguration enables a lower-privileged process to trick higher-privileged components into executing actions as if they were initiated by an administrator or system service. The confusion arises because the deputy application does not correctly distinguish between requests made under its own limited identity versus those that should require elevated credentials, effectively bypassing access control mechanisms designed to prevent such unauthorized modifications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, primarily due to the potential for immediate and silent privilege escalation. An attacker who exploits this flaw can gain administrative or system-level access without triggering typical user consent prompts or requiring interactive input, which often serves as a detection mechanism for security monitoring tools. This capability allows the adversary to install persistent backdoors, modify critical system configurations, disable security software, or exfiltrate sensitive data with full control over the affected environment. The lack of required execution privileges further exacerbates the risk, as it means that even processes running under restricted accounts can leverage this flaw to achieve higher levels of access, effectively neutralizing many perimeter and endpoint defenses that rely on process isolation.
This vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-269, which classifies Improper Privilege Management where a principal is granted privileges that are not appropriate for its role or context. Additionally, the exploitation technique maps to MITRE ATT&CK tactics related to Privilege Escalation, specifically techniques involving abuse of configuration settings or confused deputy scenarios such as T1548.003 Abuse of Elevation Control Mechanism or similar mechanisms depending on the specific operating system architecture involved. The silent nature of the attack also correlates with stealthy persistence strategies that avoid detection by standard user activity monitors.
Mitigation efforts should focus on implementing strict identity verification and context-aware authorization checks within the settings management subsystem. Developers must ensure that any operation modifying security-critical configurations explicitly validates the caller's current privilege level against a whitelist of allowed actors, rather than relying solely on the calling process's declared intent. Implementing principle of least privilege across all system services is essential to limit the blast radius if such a flaw exists. Furthermore, introducing mandatory access control policies that restrict which processes can modify specific settings regardless of their apparent identity can prevent confused deputy attacks. Regular security audits and static code analysis focused on permission handling logic are recommended to identify similar patterns in other parts of the software stack before they can be exploited by adversaries seeking local privilege escalation.