CVE-2018-9438 Denial of service in Android

What is CVE-2018-9438?

CVE-2018-9438 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Google Android, published on 6 Nov 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

When a device connects only over WiFi VPN, the device may not receive security updates due to some incorrect checks. This could lead to a local denial of service of security updates with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation. Product: Android Versions: Android-8.1 Android ID: A-78644887.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-9438?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Google Android.

How do I fix CVE-2018-9438?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-9438 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2018-9438 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-9438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Google Android

• CVE-2026-58704 Google Pixel Improper Authorization Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2025-48543 Android Runtime Use-After-Free Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2023-35674 Android Framework Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2025-48595 Android Framework Integer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2024-32896 Android Pixel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.1

All Google Android vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-xv76-4vwq-rw6h.