CVE-2021-25371 is an unspecified vulnerability in Samsung Mobile Devices. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on 29 June 2023, which means attackers have used it in real attacks. Samsung mobile devices contain an unspecified vulnerability within DSP driver that allows attackers to load ELF libraries inside DSP.
What This Vulnerability Means in Practice
CVE-2021-25371 is an unspecified vulnerability in Samsung mobile devices, and the disclosed detail that it sits in a DSP driver matters because a driver flaw can give an attacker a path below the normal app boundary. In practical terms, that means the issue is about device-level trust, not just an app crash or ordinary misconfiguration.
The risk profile is shaped by the fact that the weakness allows attackers to load ELF libraries inside the DSP. That is a strong indicator of code execution or code loading in a privileged hardware-assisted component, which can make exploitation more consequential than a user-space bug.
Why a DSP Driver Flaw Is Dangerous
DSP components usually handle specialised processing and often sit close to privileged device functionality. When a flaw in that layer lets an attacker inject or load code, the impact can extend beyond a single application and into a part of the platform that is harder to inspect, harder to isolate, and sometimes harder for endpoint tooling to observe.
This kind of weakness is especially serious on mobile devices because the phone is both a personal endpoint and, in many environments, a trusted business device. A successful exploit can therefore create a route to data exposure, persistence, or broader device compromise even when the initial attack surface appears narrow.
How Organisations Assess Exposure and Prioritise Response
For mobile vulnerabilities, the first question is always whether the affected Samsung model, build, and deployment profile are actually present in your estate. That means checking asset inventory, MDM records, and device telemetry rather than assuming all Android or all Samsung devices are equally exposed. Public vulnerability references such as the NIST National Vulnerability Database and the CVE Program help confirm the identifier and canonical record, while vendor advisories provide the version and patch specifics.
For practical mobile estate handling, the Mobile Device Security Guide is useful for thinking about enrollment state, compliance visibility, and whether a device is managed closely enough to be patched quickly and verified afterward. The same inventory discipline that supports routine hardening also helps you separate truly exposed devices from low-risk or already remediated ones.
Remediation, Detection, and Identity Impact
Remediation should follow vendor guidance as soon as the device is eligible for update, but organisations also need compensating controls when patching is delayed, such as tighter device compliance enforcement, restricted access for unpatched endpoints, and closer monitoring of unusual device behaviour. If compromise is suspected, review logs and mobile security telemetry for signs of exploitation or post-exploitation activity rather than treating the patch as the end of the incident.
Because mobile devices often carry email sessions, enterprise tokens, and other authentication material, a suspected exploit can have an identity impact even when the vulnerability itself is not framed as an account issue. If there is evidence of device compromise, rotate or revoke the credentials, sessions, and tokens the device could have exposed, and validate that business apps have not been silently reused from the compromised endpoint.
Risk and Threat Considerations
This vulnerability matters because a driver-level flaw can let an attacker cross from ordinary app execution into a more trusted device component. That increases the chance of stealthy compromise, persistence, and difficult-to-detect abuse on a high-value mobile endpoint.
Failure mechanism: An attacker exploits the DSP driver weakness to load ELF libraries into the DSP, turning a narrow mobile bug into code execution inside a privileged subsystem.
Impact: The device may be used for hidden persistence, sensitive data access, or secondary abuse of enterprise accounts and sessions that the phone already trusts.
Standards & Framework Alignment
This section maps relevant standards and security frameworks to the operational risks and controls described in this guidance.
OWASP Non-Human Identity Top 10 addresses the attack and risk surface, while NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 and CIS Controls v8 set the governance and control requirements practitioners need to meet.
| Framework | Control / Reference | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 | IA-5 — Authenticator Management | Mobile exploits can expose and reuse authentication material on devices. |
| SC-28 — Protection of Information at Rest | Device compromise can expose stored enterprise data and cached secrets. | |
| Recommendation — Rotate exposed credentials, tokens, and sessions after suspected device compromise. Protect sensitive mobile data with strong encryption and key protection. | ||
| CIS Controls v8 | CIS-1 — Inventory and Control of Enterprise Assets | Exposure depends on knowing which Samsung devices exist and are managed. |
| CIS-4 — Secure Configuration of Enterprise Assets and Software | Mobile device hardening and compliant configuration reduce exploitability. | |
| Recommendation — Maintain an accurate mobile asset inventory and map patch status to each device. Enforce secure mobile configurations and block noncompliant devices from access. | ||
| OWASP Non-Human Identity Top 10 | NHI-02 — Secret Leakage | A compromised mobile device can expose tokens, keys, and other secret material. |
| Recommendation — Treat device compromise as a potential secret-exposure event and rotate affected secrets. | ||
Practitioner Guidance
Why practitioners should care: Treat mobile CVEs as estate-wide exposure problems, not just handset bugs. The operational question is whether the device is in scope, managed, and actually remediated, because delayed patching can leave a trusted endpoint available for abuse.
What to watch for: Pay special attention to devices that cannot be updated promptly, devices with unusually broad business app access, and any endpoint showing unexplained instability, app crashes, or suspicious post-exploitation signals after the vulnerability window.
Practitioner takeaway: For mobile exploitation, patching is necessary but not sufficient, you also need to verify exposure, watch for compromise indicators, and revoke anything the device may have exposed if you suspect abuse.