Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessInstall or run malicious local app
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DeliveryInvoke navigateUpTo in ActivityClientController
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ExploitTrigger permission-check logic error
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ExecutionBypass protection mechanism
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ImpactEscalate to higher privilege
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Protection mechanism completeness
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires local access to the device - in practice an attacker-controlled or compromised application already running on it - because the vector is AV:L; it is reachable against default configurations with no special feature toggle named in the description. Per CVSS PR:N the triggering code path needs no pre-existing privileges and UI:N confirms no victim interaction is required. The primary limiting factors are: the attacker must already be able to execute code locally (e.g. a sideloaded or malicious app), the device must run an affected build (Android 17, Android 16, or Android 16-qpr2), and SSVC indicates the attack is not automatable, so it is a deliberate local action rather than a remote or self-propagating one. |
| Impact | This is a genuine high-severity local privilege-escalation issue, but not an emergency. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N, C:H/I:H/A:H, 8.4) indicates a locally-reachable flaw requiring no prior privileges and no user interaction, with total impact to confidentiality, integrity and availability - consistent with CWE-693 (protection-mechanism failure) and the description's permission bypass in navigateUpTo of ActivityClientController.java. The SSVC framework agrees on severity (Technical Impact: total) but tempers urgency: Exploitation is 'none' (no observed or public exploitation) and Automatable is 'no', meaning this is not a wormable or mass-scannable condition. There is no CISA KEV listing and no EPSS score supplied, so there is no quantitative exploitation-probability signal; absence of EPSS is a data gap, not evidence of low risk. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_week', signalling prompt-but-not-immediate patching. Net: real priority for Android fleet patching, but current signals point to no active exploitation rather than an in-the-wild emergency. Note AV:L means an attacker needs local code execution (typically a malicious or compromised on-device app) first, which materially constrains real-world reach despite the high base score. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A malicious application installed on the device, holding no special permissions and requiring no user interaction, invokes the affected activity-navigation path (navigateUpTo in ActivityClientController) to trigger the logic error and bypass a permission check. This yields local escalation of privilege, letting the app perform actions it should not be authorized for. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Nov 02, 2026
Local privilege escalation in Google Android 16, Android 16-qpr2 and Android 17 allows an application already running on the device to bypass an activity-navigation permission check and obtain elevated read, write and execute-equivalent access to protected data and components. The flaw is a logic error in navigateUpTo within ActivityClientController.java, classified as a protection-mechanism failure (CWE-693), and is rated CVSS 8.4 with a local attack vector, low complexity, no required privileges and no user interaction. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and the CISA SSVC assessment records exploitation as none and the attack as not automatable, although technical impact is rated total; the vendor reference is the Android Security Bulletin dated 2026-11-01.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released fix: the patch is delivered through the Android Security Bulletin dated 2026-11-01 (https://source.android.com/docs/security/bulletin/2026/2026-11-01); apply that bulletin's update to devices running Android 17, Android 16 or Android 16-qpr2 and confirm the device reports the security patch level from that bulletin, since the supplied data does not enumerate the specific fixed build IDs for each branch. The supplied sources do not describe a vendor workaround or configuration toggle that closes this bug, so treat the bulletin update as the complete fix and verify the patch level rather than relying on any partial mitigation. For scoping during the exposure window, note the assessed prerequisites: exploitation requires the ability to execute code locally on the device, meaning a malicious or compromised application must first be present, and SSVC rates the attack as not automatable, so it is a deliberate local action rather than a remote or self-propagating one; the CVSS vector confirms no additional execution privileges and no user interaction are needed once that local foothold exists.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
ActivityClientController.java is part of the Android system server's activity-management binder surface, the privileged side that fielded requests from ordinary applications for activity and task operations. The affected routine, navigateUpTo, implements the 'up' navigation behaviour, where an application asks the system to finish the current activity and move to its logical parent within a task; because this traverses task and activity records owned by other packages, the platform is expected to enforce a permission check on the caller. Per CWE-693 (Protection Mechanism Failure), the implemented logic in that check is flawed, so a caller that should be refused is instead permitted to complete the operation, and the result is a privilege boundary crossing with high confidentiality, integrity and availability impact on the same device. The supplied sources do not describe the precise code-level trigger or the exact check that is mis-evaluated, so the specific mechanism by which the logic error is reached is not described in the available sources. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:google:android:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* identifies the Google Android platform, and the EUVD data scopes affected builds to Android 17, Android 16 and Android 16-qpr2; the CVSS vector AV:L reflects that the attack is exercised by code executing on the device rather than across a network, and PR:N/UI:N indicate the triggering path itself imposes no prior privilege and no victim interaction.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local app-reachable path (AV:L) with no privileges or interaction (PR:N/UI:N); permission bypass gives total system impact (C:H/I:H/A:H), scope unchanged.
Primary rating from Vendor (google_android).
CVSS VectorVendor: google_android
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
In navigateUpTo of ActivityClientController.java, there is a possible permission bypass due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
Articles & Coverage 1
Executive ViewAI
A high-severity local privilege escalation vulnerability in Android 16, 16-qpr2, and 17 (CVE-2026-58946) allows a malicious app already installed on a device to bypass navigation permission checks and gain elevated read, write, and execute-equivalent access to protected data and components. This affects any organization with Android devices in its fleet, particularly those handling sensitive data. Leadership should care because a compromised app could escalate privileges to access corporate data, potentially leading to data breaches or further compromise.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations include enforcing strict app installation policies (e.g., disabling sideloading via MDM), monitoring app permissions and behavior for anomalies, and applying least-privilege principles to sensitive data access on devices.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
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EUVD-2026-115390
GHSA-ppx4-647g-259w
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB