CWE-925β€”Improper Verification of Intent by Broadcast Receiver

PUBLISHEDweakness record
released 2013-07-17 Β· last modified 2026-04-30

Metadata

CWE ID:
CWE-925
Abstraction:
Variant
Structure:
Simple
Status:
Incomplete
Release Date:
2013-07-17
Latest Modification Date:
2026-04-30

Weakness Name

Improper Verification of Intent by Broadcast Receiver

Description

The Android application uses a Broadcast Receiver that receives an Intent but does not properly verify that the Intent came from an authorized source.

Certain types of Intents, identified by action string, can only be broadcast by the operating system itself, not by third-party applications. However, when an application registers to receive these implicit system intents, it is also registered to receive any explicit intents. While a malicious application cannot send an implicit system intent, it can send an explicit intent to the target application, which may assume that any received intent is a valid implicit system intent and not an explicit intent from another application. This may lead to unintended behavior.

Common Consequences

Scope:
Integrity
Impact:
Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Notes:
Another application can impersonate the operating system and cause the software to perform an unintended action.

Related Weaknesses