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CISA Flags Samsung Mobile Devices for Critical Exploited Vulnerability (CVE-2025-21042)
Executive Summary
In November 2025, CISA added CVE-2025-21042, an out-of-bounds write vulnerability affecting Samsung Mobile Devices, to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog following active exploitation in the wild. Threat actors have leveraged this flaw to gain unauthorized control over affected devices, potentially allowing them to execute arbitrary code, escalate privileges, and compromise sensitive user data. The vulnerability poses significant risks to both federal agencies and commercial enterprises, prompting CISA to mandate remediation by federal civilian agencies under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01. Failure to remediate exposes organizations to data breaches and operational disruption.
This incident highlights a broader wave of targeted exploits against widely used mobile platforms, illustrating attackers’ ongoing shift toward mobile devices as primary entry vectors. With regulatory attention intensifying, the urgency for rapid vulnerability management and proactive defense measures is escalated for all sectors.
Why This Matters Now
Mobile devices are increasingly targeted by sophisticated threat actors, with attackers exploiting zero-day and n-day vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-21042 to compromise sensitive data and systems. The active exploitation of this vulnerability, coupled with regulatory mandates for swift remediation, makes immediate action vital for both government and private organizations to mitigate elevated cyber risk.
Attack Path Analysis
Attackers exploited CVE-2025-21042, an out-of-bounds write in Samsung mobile devices, to gain an initial foothold in the organization's environment. Leveraging this compromise, they escalated privileges on affected devices or cloud workloads. With elevated permissions, they moved laterally across internal cloud networks. The threat actors established command and control channels to maintain persistence and coordinate further actions. Sensitive data was then exfiltrated over encrypted or obfuscated channels. The attack culminated in business impact, potentially including data leakage, service disruption, or ransomware operations.
Kill Chain Progression
Initial Compromise
Description
Adversaries exploited the Samsung CVE-2025-21042 vulnerability in mobile devices to gain unauthorized access into the organization's environment.
Related CVEs
CVE-2025-21042
CVSS 7.8An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in libimagecodec.quram.so prior to SMR Apr-2025 Release 1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.
Affected Products:
Samsung Mobile Devices – prior to SMR Apr-2025 Release 1
Exploit Status:
exploited in the wildCVE-2025-21043
CVSS 7.8An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Samsung Mobile Devices prior to SMR Sep-2025 Release 1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code.
Affected Products:
Samsung Mobile Devices – prior to SMR Sep-2025 Release 1
Exploit Status:
exploited in the wild
MITRE ATT&CK® Techniques
Mapped MITRE ATT&CK techniques derive from vulnerability exploitation and common attacker behaviors and will be supplemented with advanced enrichment for full threat context.
Exploitation for Client Execution
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Exploit Public-Facing Application
Endpoint Denial of Service
Command and Scripting Interpreter
Exploitation of Remote Services
Valid Accounts
Potential Compliance Exposure
Mapping incident impact across multiple compliance frameworks.
PCI DSS 4.0 – Security of System Components
Control ID: 6.3.1
NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 – Cybersecurity Policy
Control ID: 500.03
DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) – ICT Risk Management Framework
Control ID: Article 9(2)
CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model 2.0 – Asset and Vulnerability Management
Control ID: Vulnerability Management
NIS2 Directive – Vulnerability Handling and Disclosure
Control ID: Article 21(2)(d)
Sector Implications
Industry-specific impact of the vulnerabilities, including operational, regulatory, and cloud security risks.
Telecommunications
Samsung mobile device vulnerabilities enable out-of-bounds write exploits, compromising network infrastructure security and exposing telecommunications systems to lateral movement attacks.
Government Administration
CISA KEV directive mandates federal agencies remediate Samsung mobile vulnerabilities by specified deadlines, affecting government mobile device security and compliance requirements.
Financial Services
Mobile banking applications on Samsung devices face exploitation risks through out-of-bounds write vulnerabilities, potentially compromising financial transactions and customer data.
Health Care / Life Sciences
Healthcare mobile applications on Samsung devices vulnerable to exploitation, risking patient data exposure and violating HIPAA compliance requirements for mobile security.
Sources
- CISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability to Cataloghttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2025/11/10/cisa-adds-one-known-exploited-vulnerability-catalogVerified
- Samsung Mobile Security Updateshttps://security.samsungmobile.com/securityUpdate.smsb?year=2025&month=04Verified
- Samsung Mobile Security Updateshttps://security.samsungmobile.com/securityUpdate.smsb?year=2025&month=09Verified
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloud Native Security Fabric Mitigations and ControlsCNSF
Implementing CNSF-aligned Zero Trust controls—including microsegmentation, encrypted traffic enforcement, inline IPS, threat detection, and strict egress policy—would have prevented, detected, or limited attacker movement at multiple kill chain stages. Granular segmentation and visibility substantially reduce attacker freedom after initial compromise, while egress controls and anomaly detection disrupt both data theft and impact.
Control: Inline IPS (Suricata)
Mitigation: Exploitation attempts matching known vulnerability signatures are blocked at the network edge.
Control: Zero Trust Segmentation
Mitigation: Lateral privilege escalation pathways are restricted via enforced identity and workload boundaries.
Control: East-West Traffic Security
Mitigation: Lateral movement is detected and prevented between segments via policy-based constraints and real-time monitoring.
Control: Cloud Firewall (ACF)
Mitigation: Outbound malicious C2 traffic is blocked and anomalous egress patterns trigger alerts.
Control: Egress Security & Policy Enforcement
Mitigation: Unapproved data transfers to external hosts are blocked or flagged in real time.
Control: Threat Detection & Anomaly Response
Mitigation: Rapid detection and containment of anomalous destructive behavior reduces overall business impact.
Impact at a Glance
Affected Business Functions
- Mobile Communications
- Data Services
Estimated downtime: 3 days
Estimated loss: $500,000
Potential exposure of sensitive user data due to arbitrary code execution vulnerabilities.
Recommended Actions
Key Takeaways & Next Steps
- • Urgently apply all patches for known exploited vulnerabilities, especially CVE-2025-21042, across cloud-managed endpoints.
- • Deploy inline IPS and east-west traffic inspection to block exploitation attempts and lateral movement within cloud and hybrid networks.
- • Enforce zero trust segmentation and least privilege policies to confine attacker access and reduce blast radius.
- • Implement granular egress filtering and monitoring to prevent data exfiltration and detect unauthorized outbound communications.
- • Establish continuous threat detection and automated response workflows to contain compromise before business impact occurs.
