CVE-2025-58475: Samsung Android Privilege Escalation Flaw

CVE-2025-58475 Overview

CVE-2025-58475 is an improper input validation vulnerability in libsec-ril.so, a Radio Interface Layer (RIL) component used in Samsung Android devices. The flaw allows local attackers with elevated privileges to trigger an out-of-bounds memory write. Samsung addressed the issue in the SMR Dec-2025 Release 1 security maintenance update. The vulnerability affects Samsung Android versions 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, and 16.0 across multiple monthly security maintenance releases prior to the December 2025 patch.

Critical Impact

A local privileged attacker can corrupt memory via out-of-bounds writes in libsec-ril.so, potentially leading to integrity loss in the radio interface layer on affected Samsung Android devices.

Affected Products

• Samsung Android 13.0 (releases prior to SMR Dec-2025 Release 1)
• Samsung Android 14.0 (releases prior to SMR Dec-2025 Release 1)
• Samsung Android 15.0 and 16.0 (releases prior to SMR Dec-2025 Release 1)

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-12-02 - CVE-2025-58475 published to NVD
• 2025-12-05 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-58475

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in libsec-ril.so, the proprietary Samsung Radio Interface Layer library that mediates communication between the Android telephony framework and the cellular baseband processor. The library fails to properly validate input before performing a memory write operation. As a result, attacker-controlled data can be written past the bounds of an allocated buffer.

Out-of-bounds writes in privileged native components can corrupt adjacent heap structures, function pointers, or control data within the radio service process. The vulnerability requires the attacker to already hold high privileges on the device, which limits the realistic attack surface to malicious or compromised system-level processes interacting with the RIL interface.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient input validation in libsec-ril.so before data is copied into a destination buffer. Without proper length or bounds checks, oversized or malformed input passed to RIL routines causes the library to write beyond the allocated memory region, producing an out-of-bounds write condition.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires local access and high privileges on the target device. An attacker operating with the necessary permissions sends crafted input to a vulnerable RIL function, triggering the out-of-bounds write. Because the attack vector is local and user interaction is not required, exploitation is confined to scenarios where the adversary already controls a privileged context, such as a compromised system service or vendor application.

No public proof-of-concept code or exploitation in the wild has been reported. Refer to the Samsung Security Update December 2025 advisory for vendor-supplied technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-58475

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected crashes, restarts, or tombstone files associated with the rild or vendor radio service process on Samsung Android devices.
• Native heap corruption signatures in libsec-ril.so captured in Android crash logs (logcat, dropbox, or tombstoned output).
• Installation of privileged third-party or sideloaded applications immediately preceding radio subsystem instability.

Detection Strategies

• Monitor mobile device management (MDM) telemetry for Samsung devices running pre-December 2025 SMR patch levels.
• Inspect Android crash dumps for SIGSEGV or SIGABRT signals originating in libsec-ril.so with fault addresses outside expected allocations.
• Correlate privileged process activity with anomalous telephony service restarts to identify potential exploitation attempts.

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enforce patch-level reporting via enterprise mobility management to flag devices below SMR Dec-2025 Release 1.
• Collect and centralize Android bugreport and tombstone artifacts from managed Samsung devices for forensic review.
• Alert on baseband or RIL service crashes occurring in clusters across a managed fleet, which may indicate exploitation attempts.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-58475

Immediate Actions Required

• Apply the Samsung SMR Dec-2025 Release 1 security maintenance update to all affected Samsung Android 13.0, 14.0, 15.0, and 16.0 devices.
• Audit managed Samsung devices to confirm the patch level reflects the December 2025 SMR or later.
• Restrict installation of applications that request high-privilege or system-level capabilities until devices are patched.

Patch Information

Samsung released the fix as part of the SMR Dec-2025 Release 1 security maintenance update. Patch availability and rollout timing vary by device model and carrier. See the Samsung Security Update December 2025 advisory for the official vendor bulletin.

Workarounds

• No vendor-supplied workaround is documented; applying the SMR Dec-2025 Release 1 update is the only complete remediation.
• Reduce risk by limiting the number of privileged applications installed on affected devices and removing unused vendor or sideloaded software.
• Enforce strict MDM policies that block sideloading and require Google Play Protect verification on affected device fleets.

# Verify Samsung Android security patch level via ADB
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release
# Confirm value is 2025-12-01 or later before considering CVE-2025-58475 mitigated