CVE-2026-59015 in Android
Summary
by MITRE • 11/02/2026
In multiple locations, there is a possible permission bypass due to a confused deputy. This could lead to local information disclosure with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/02/2026
The vulnerability described constitutes a classic Confused Deputy problem, which falls under the broader category of improper privilege management and access control failures. In cybersecurity taxonomy, this specific flaw is often mapped to CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management or CWE-807: Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in Security Decision, depending on whether the system fails to validate its own identity against a higher privileged context or incorrectly assumes that an actor with lower privileges can act as if it possesses elevated rights. The core technical issue lies in the application's failure to properly verify the effective user ID or group membership when performing sensitive operations. Instead of checking the actual credentials of the process initiating the action, the software relies on contextual assumptions or cached state variables that have not been updated correctly after a privilege escalation event, such as setuid execution or container runtime transitions. This logical error allows an attacker to exploit the discrepancy between the intended security policy and the actual enforcement mechanism, effectively tricking the system into granting access it should deny.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability enables local information disclosure without requiring any form of user interaction or social engineering. The absence of a need for user intervention significantly lowers the barrier to entry for exploitation, allowing even unprivileged users on the same host to trigger the flaw remotely if network services are exposed, or locally via shell access. Once exploited, an attacker can read sensitive files, configuration data, or internal application states that are restricted to higher-privilege accounts such as root or system administrators. This leads directly to a compromise of confidentiality within the affected environment. The impact is particularly severe in multi-user systems or containerized environments where isolation boundaries must be strictly maintained, as it undermines the fundamental principle of least privilege and allows lateral movement by exposing credentials or internal network topology details stored in accessible files.
In terms of threat modeling, this behavior aligns with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078: Valid Accounts, specifically when used to bypass intended access controls through misconfiguration or logic errors rather than credential theft. It also relates to T1534: Internal Spearphishing if the disclosure facilitates further targeted attacks within a network segment by revealing internal structures. The vulnerability represents a critical failure in input validation and security context verification during runtime execution. Developers often encounter this issue when handling file operations, database queries, or API calls where the code path does not re-evaluate permissions after switching contexts. For instance, if an application drops privileges but fails to clear sensitive data from memory or configuration objects before processing a request that requires elevated access, it may inadvertently serve restricted information based on stale security tokens.
Mitigation strategies must focus on rigorous validation of identity and context at every point where privileged operations are executed. The primary defense is to ensure that the application explicitly checks the effective user ID against required permissions for each specific action, rather than relying on global state or assumptions about the caller's role. Implementing strict separation of duties and ensuring that privilege escalation mechanisms properly reset security contexts can prevent this confusion. Additionally, adopting a principle of least privilege in code design means that services should run with minimal necessary rights, reducing the blast radius if such a bypass occurs. Security testing frameworks should include specific checks for confused deputy scenarios by simulating context switches and verifying that access controls are re-evaluated dynamically rather than statically cached. Regular audits of permission logic and static analysis tools configured to detect improper privilege management patterns can also help identify these flaws before deployment, ensuring robust protection against local information disclosure attacks.