Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2018-9338 is an Android local privilege escalation flaw. A malicious local app or process with low privileges could potentially gain higher privileges without user interaction. The issue affects older Android releases listed in the CVE data, so business risk is concentrated in unmanaged or legacy Android fleets.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority legacy Android exposure issue. It is not remotely exploitable based on the supplied data, but successful local exploitation could compromise device confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Technical view
The flaw is a CWE-787 out-of-bounds write in Android ResourceTypes.cpp, ResStringPool::setTo, caused by a missing bounds check. CVSS 3.1 is 7.8, local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on devices running affected Android versions 6, 6.0.1, 7, 8, or 8.1, including listed development branches. Fully updated or unsupported-status devices require validation against Google and OEM security bulletin coverage.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked KEV. Exploitation is described as local, requiring some existing low-privileged execution on the device, but no additional execution privileges and no user interaction.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and Android bulletin reference. The bug location, weakness class, CVSS vector, affected versions, and no-user-interaction local privilege escalation claim are sourced. No exploit details or independent exploitation reports are provided.
Mitigation direction
- Review Google’s June 2018 Android security bulletin for CVE-2018-9338 coverage.
- Apply relevant Google or OEM Android security updates where available.
- Prioritize legacy Android devices that cannot receive security updates.
- Restrict installation of untrusted apps on exposed legacy devices.
- Retire or isolate unsupported affected Android versions.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Android OS versions and security patch levels across managed devices.
- Identify devices running Android 6 through 8.1.
- Check OEM advisories for CVE-2018-9338 patch inclusion.
- Confirm patch status against the June 2018 Android security bulletin.
- Track exceptions for devices that cannot be updated.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-787: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2018-9338 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2018-06-01CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Out-of-bounds Write
Out-of-bounds Write represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.