Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
A flaw in Samsung's libsdffextractor media parsing library could let an attacker run code inside the mediaextractor process on affected Samsung Android devices. Samsung fixed it in the May 2021 Security Maintenance Release. Old or unpatched devices remain high business risk.
Executive priority
Treat as critical for any organization still operating legacy Samsung Android devices. For fully updated fleets, priority is confirmation and exception handling rather than emergency response.
Technical view
CVE-2021-25385 is improper input validation in sdfffd_parse_chunk_PROP() in libsdffextractor before SMR May 2021 Release 1. The CVE maps to CWE-121 and has CVSS 3.1 score 9.0, with no privileges or user interaction required in the vector and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Samsung Mobile Devices running Android O 8.1, P 9.x, Q 10.0, or R 11.0 before Samsung's May 2021 Release 1 security update.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. The impact is severe because the vulnerability is described as enabling arbitrary code execution in mediaextractor, but public source evidence here does not include exploit maturity details.
Researcher notes
The source bundle identifies the vulnerable function and library, affected Android generations, CWE-121, and the fixing Samsung release. It does not provide root-cause detail, proof-of-concept evidence, affected model granularity, or exploitation telemetry.
Mitigation direction
- Apply Samsung SMR May 2021 Release 1 or a later security update.
- Prioritize affected Android 8.1, 9.x, 10.0, and 11.0 Samsung devices.
- Retire or isolate devices that cannot receive Samsung security updates.
- Check Samsung guidance for model-specific update availability.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Samsung device models and Android versions in managed fleets.
- Verify installed Android security patch level is May 2021 or later.
- Confirm no affected devices remain outside mobile device management visibility.
- Track exceptions for unsupported devices and compensating controls.
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-121: 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 lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-25385 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H2.26Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://security.samsungmobile.com/securityUpdate.smsb?year=2021&month=5CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.
Stack-based Buffer Overflow
Stack-based Buffer Overflow represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.