Description

BubbleChatActivity in the Datadog Android application is declared android:exported="true" with no permission guard and accepts a SEND intent with mimeType text/plain. The activity reads a conversation_id from Intent extras and, on onDestroy, calls BubbleChatNotification.dismiss whenever no active in-process session matches the caller-supplied conversation_id. BubbleChatNotification.dismiss unconditionally cancels notification ID 9201 — the hard-coded Bits AI chat notification — using NotificationManager.cancel, with no validation of the caller's identity or ownership of the supplied conversation_id. A zero-permission co-installed application can therefore launch BubbleChatActivity with any random conversation_id; when the activity is finished, the Bits AI chat notification is cancelled on the victim device. No data exposure: chat content is server-authentication gated and is never returned to the caller. Shortcut removal is scoped to the attacker-supplied conversation ID, which is a random string and is not reachable without prior knowledge. Impact is confined to denial of the Bits AI chat notification (a nuisance and a potential aid to phishing of in-app workflows).

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "6.4",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-07T18:17:15.757Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-07T18:17:15.757Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A permission bypass and notification denial of service vulnerability exists within the BubbleChatActivity component of the Datadog Android application. The vulnerability stems from an insecure component export configuration combined with a lack of authorization checks when processing incoming Intent extras.\nAn unprivileged, co-installed malicious application on the same Android device can leverage this flaw to trigger the dismissal of critical application notifications, specifically the hard-coded Bits AI chat notification (notification ID 9201).\nThe impact is primarily a localized denial of service affecting user awareness and notification integrity, creating potential vectors for social engineering or phishing within in-app workflows. Exploitation requires no special privileges or permissions beyond local code execution on the target device, and no prior authentication or data exposure is involved.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of the vulnerability lies in the declaration of BubbleChatActivity within the Datadog Android application manifest with android:exported=\"true\" and the absence of any permission guard restricting access. The activity is configured to accept a SEND intent with a mimeType of text/plain.\nWhen invoked, the vulnerable component extracts a conversation_id parameter from the supplied Intent extras. Upon the destruction of the activity (onDestroy), the application invokes BubbleChatNotification.dismiss without validating whether an active in-process session matches the caller-supplied conversation_id or verifying the identity of the calling application.\nThe vulnerable function, BubbleChatNotification.dismiss, unconditionally invokes NotificationManager.cancel targeting a hard-coded notification ID of 9201, which corresponds to the Bits AI chat notification.\nThe step-by-step attack flow proceeds as follows: First, an unprivileged co-installed application crafts an explicit or implicit SEND intent targeting BubbleChatActivity with an arbitrary, randomized conversation_id string. Second, the attacker launches the activity using mechanisms such as Context.startActivity(). Third, the Datadog application processes the incoming intent, instantiating BubbleChatActivity. Fourth, the attacker finishes or forces the termination of the activity lifecycle. Finally, upon reaching the onDestroy lifecycle method, the application blindly executes the cancellation logic, resulting in the removal of the Bits AI chat notification on the victim device.\nWhile chat content remains protected via server-side authentication gates and is never exposed to the caller, and shortcut removal is scoped strictly to the attacker-supplied conversation ID, the flaw allows unauthorized state manipulation of the system notification tray for the affected application."
}