Android: Double free causing remote denial of service in message retry handling
Summary
A use-after-free flaw in RespondReceivedMessage of MtsMessageController.cpp can lead to a double free and a process abort during message retry handling. According to the CVE description, a remote attacker can trigger a denial of service without additional execution privileges and without user interaction. The impact is limited to availability; no confidentiality or integrity loss is described.
Affected
- Google Android devices; the CNA lists the component as the Android kernel, but the affected file is C++ code, so the exact component scope is unclear.
- Exact affected versions: Unknown.
Fixed in
- Security patch level 2026-11-05 or later is the reference target according to Google's November 2026 bulletins.
- Inclusion of CVE-2026-59603 in the bulletin tables could not be confirmed from the excerpts reviewed.
Workaround
Unknown. No vendor workaround was found; patching is the only documented remedy.
Exploitation
- No evidence of exploitation in the wild was found.
- CISA SSVC assessment: Exploitation none, Automatable yes, Technical Impact partial.
- Aggregator pages list the CVE as not in KEV; this is a secondary source and should be checked against CISA KEV directly.
Our recommendation
- Enforce security patch level 2026-11-05 or later on Android devices, for example through MDM.
- Verify device patch levels (Settings > About phone > Android security update), including devices that no longer receive updates.
- Monitor for abnormal crashes or reboots of mobile devices.
- Treat this as moderate priority and include it in the next patch cycle.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- Pixel Update Bulletin November 2026 source.android.com
- CVE Record CVE-2026-59603 www.cve.org
- Strix CVE-2026-59603 www.strix.ai
- Threatint CVE-2026-59603 cve.threatint.com
- Android Security Bulletin November 2026 source.android.com
- 9to5Google: November 2026 Pixel update 9to5google.com
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 11 Nov 2026, 04:55.
Original description (NVD)
In RespondReceivedMessage of MtsMessageController.cpp, there is a possible way to trigger a double free and process abort during message retry handling due to a use after free. This could lead to remote denial of service with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
NVD references (1)
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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