Overview
In the rapidly evolving landscape of cybersecurity, new vulnerabilities are discovered regularly. This post discusses the recently discovered and severe vulnerability CVE-2025-36896, which affects the WLAN in Android devices, particularly Google Pixel models, prior to the 2025-09-05 update. This vulnerability allows the elevation of privilege, making it a severe threat that can potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage. It is essential for cybersecurity professionals, Android users, and particularly Google Pixel users, to understand this vulnerability and adopt mitigating measures to safeguard their devices and data.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-36896
Severity: Critical (9.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Google Pixel | Android versions before 2025-09-05
How the Exploit Works
The CVE-2025-36896 vulnerability exploits the WLAN component of the Android operating system. An attacker with low-level privileges can exploit this vulnerability by sending specially crafted network packets to the target device. If the user interacts with these malicious packets, the attacker can elevate their privileges on the device, gaining unauthorized access to device capabilities and data. This can potentially lead to a full system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This is a sample of a potentially malicious network packet that could be sent to the vulnerable device.
POST /wlan/exploit HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "malicious_payload": "elevation-of-privilege-command" }The above conceptual example does not represent actual exploit code but is intended to provide a basic understanding of how an attack might be structured. It’s crucial to apply the vendor-provided patch or use a WAF/IDS as temporary mitigation to prevent an exploit of this vulnerability.
