CVE-2026-92173 in Meta Horizon OS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/01/2026
Prior to v74.0.0.878.1682 of Meta Horizon OS, MediaSyncJobReceiver could be induced to send a privileged PendingIntent including a com.oculus.vrshell CallerIdentity to an arbitrary application listening via NotificationListenerService. That would allow the application to impersonate the com.oculus.vrshell package, as well as packages signed with the same key, towards any endpoint within the OS that uses CallerIdentity authentication.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/01/2026
The vulnerability identified in Meta Horizon OS versions prior to 74.0.0.878.1682 represents a critical flaw in the system's inter-process communication and permission management architecture, specifically within the MediaSyncJobReceiver component. This issue stems from an improper implementation of PendingIntent handling that allows for privilege escalation through the abuse of Android’s notification listener infrastructure. The core technical failure lies in how the receiver constructs and dispatches pending intents intended for privileged operations involving the com.oculus.vrshell package. Instead of strictly limiting these intents to authorized system components or ensuring they cannot be intercepted by lower-privileged applications, the implementation fails to validate the target context adequately during transmission. This oversight creates a pathway where an arbitrary application can intercept sensitive data and actions meant exclusively for high-level system processes.
The operational mechanism of this vulnerability relies on the interaction between MediaSyncJobReceiver and NotificationListenerService. In Android-based systems, including Horizon OS which is built upon it, notification listeners have broad visibility into notifications posted by other applications. The flaw allows an attacker-controlled application to induce MediaSyncJobReceiver to send a privileged PendingIntent that includes a com.oculus.vrshell CallerIdentity object. By leveraging the NotificationListenerService interface, the malicious application can capture this intent before it reaches its intended destination or exploit the broadcast nature of certain intents to intercept them. Once captured, the CallerIdentity serves as a cryptographic proof of identity tied to the signing key of the Oculus VR shell package. This identifier is not merely informational; it is actively used by various endpoints within the operating system to authenticate requests and determine access rights based on the caller's perceived privilege level.
The impact of this vulnerability is severe, enabling an application with minimal initial permissions to achieve significant unauthorized capabilities. By obtaining the CallerIdentity for com.oculus.vrshell or any other package signed with the same key, a malicious app can impersonate these high-privilege entities. This impersonation allows the attacker to bypass security checks that rely on caller identity verification. Consequently, the application can interact with internal OS endpoints as if it were part of the trusted Oculus ecosystem. This could lead to unauthorized access to protected user data, manipulation of system settings, or execution of administrative commands without proper authorization. The ability to impersonate packages signed with the same key further expands the attack surface, potentially affecting multiple components that share cryptographic signatures but may have distinct security boundaries in practice.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management and CWE-749 Exposed Dangerous Method or API. The failure to restrict access to sensitive system functions based on the actual caller's identity rather than just the presence of an intent constitutes a fundamental breach in privilege enforcement. In terms of attack vectors, this scenario maps directly to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1055 Process Injection and potentially T1608 Install Rootkit if the impersonation allows for deeper system modification. It also relates to T1534 Internal Spearphishing as it involves deceiving internal components into trusting a malicious actor. The exploitation requires local access, typically implying that an attacker must have already installed or coerced the installation of a third-party application on the device, which is common in sideloading scenarios or compromised app stores.
Mitigation for this vulnerability primarily rests with Meta to release a patched version of Horizon OS at or above v74.0.0.878.1682 where these intent handling mechanisms are hardened. Developers must ensure that pending intents containing sensitive identifiers like CallerIdentity are explicitly exported only to trusted components and utilize flags such as FLAG_NO_CREATE or specific permission requirements to prevent interception by NotificationListenerService listeners. For users, the primary defense is maintaining strict control over installed applications and avoiding sideloading of untrusted software. Regularly updating the device firmware ensures that known flaws in system-level services like MediaSyncJobReceiver are addressed before they can be leveraged for privilege escalation attacks against the broader Oculus ecosystem infrastructure.