Executive Summary

On December 4, 2025, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added two high-severity zero-day vulnerabilities affecting the Android operating system to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. The flaws, CVE-2025-48633 and CVE-2025-48572, exist in the core Android Framework and are being actively exploited in the wild. Google's security bulletin notes that the exploitation appears to be 'limited' and 'targeted', which often points towards use by commercial spyware vendors or nation-state actors for espionage. The addition to the KEV catalog mandates that U.S. federal agencies patch the vulnerabilities by a specified deadline. All users of affected Android devices are strongly encouraged to install the December 2025 security updates immediately to mitigate the risk of device compromise.

Vulnerability Details

The two vulnerabilities reside in the Android Framework, a fundamental component of the OS that provides APIs for application development. They are typically used in concert to achieve full device compromise:

1. CVE-2025-48633 (Information Disclosure): This high-severity vulnerability could allow a malicious application to access sensitive information on the device that it should not have permission to view. This could include contacts, messages, location data, or other private user information.

2. CVE-2025-48572 (Elevation of Privilege - EoP): This high-severity flaw allows a malicious process to gain higher-level permissions on the system. An attacker would typically use this vulnerability after gaining an initial foothold to escalate their privileges, allowing them to bypass Android's security sandboxing and gain deeper control over the device.

Attackers often chain vulnerabilities like these together. For example, an attacker might first use a remote code execution flaw in a browser to get initial access, then use the information disclosure flaw to find sensitive data or system offsets, and finally use the EoP flaw to gain system-level privileges.

Affected Systems

The vulnerabilities affect a wide range of devices running modern versions of the Android operating system:

• Android 13
• Android 14
• Android 15
• Android 16

Patches for these vulnerabilities are included in the 2025-12-01 security patch level. The availability of this update depends on the device manufacturer (e.g., Samsung, Google, OnePlus) and, in some cases, the mobile carrier.

Exploitation Status

Both vulnerabilities are confirmed to be actively exploited. Google's assessment of 'limited, targeted exploitation' suggests that these are not being used in widespread, indiscriminate attacks against the general public. Instead, they are likely being used in sophisticated, focused campaigns against high-value targets such as journalists, activists, dissidents, and government officials. This is a common modus operandi for state-sponsored threat actors and commercial spyware vendors that sell surveillance tools to governments.

Impact Assessment

A successful exploit chain leveraging these vulnerabilities could grant an attacker near-total control over a victim's device. This could lead to:

• Complete Data Exfiltration: Theft of all data on the device, including emails, text messages, photos, and files.
• Real-time Surveillance: The ability to activate the device's microphone and camera to spy on the user and their surroundings.
• Location Tracking: Constant monitoring of the user's physical location.
• Credential Theft: Stealing passwords and access tokens for various online accounts.

For federal employees and other high-profile individuals, a compromised mobile device represents a significant national security and personal safety risk.

Detection Methods

For most end-users, detecting a compromise from such a sophisticated exploit is extremely difficult. However, organizations using Mobile Device Management (MDM) or Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) solutions can take steps:

• Vulnerability Scanning: Use MDM/MTD solutions to scan the entire device fleet to identify devices that have not yet been updated to the 2025-12-01 security patch level.
• App Vetting: Enforce policies that prevent the installation of applications from untrusted sources (sideloading). D3FEND's D3-EDL: Executable Denylisting can be conceptually applied to mobile app stores.
• Behavioral Analysis: Some advanced MTD solutions may be able to detect anomalous behavior indicative of a compromise, such as an application attempting to access data it shouldn't or escalate its privileges.

Remediation Steps

1. Apply Security Updates: The only effective remediation is to install the latest security updates provided by the device manufacturer. Users should go to Settings > System > System update (or similar path) and check for the December 2025 Android security update.
2. Reboot Device: After updating, it is good practice to reboot the device.
3. Review Installed Apps: Users should review all installed applications and remove any that are unfamiliar or no longer needed.
4. Federal Agency Compliance: FCEB agencies are required to patch these vulnerabilities by the deadline specified in the KEV catalog to remain in compliance with Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01.