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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 29 Sep 2022.
AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2011-1823

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2011-06-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.3.4 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The vold volume manager daemon on Android 3.0 and 2.x before 2.3.4 trusts messages that are received from a PF_NETLINK socket, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code and gain root privileges via a negative index that bypasses a maximum-only signed integer check in the DirectVolume::handlePartitionAdded method, which triggers memory corruption, as demonstrated by Gingerbreak.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The Android vold (volume manager daemon) on versions 3.0 and 2.x before 2.3.4 improperly trusts messages received from PF_NETLINK sockets without sufficient validation. A negative index value bypasses a maximum-only signed integer check in the DirectVolume::handlePartitionAdded method, causing memory corruption that allows local users to execute arbitrary code with root privileges.

MitigationUpdate Android devices to version 2.3.4 or later, which contains the patch for this vulnerability. For unpatchable devices, restrict access to local users and avoid running untrusted applications.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
AndroidOperating system
Affected:>= 2.0, < 2.3.4= 3.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Android OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell or terminal emulator
    Affected if Version is 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3.0-2.3.3, or exactly 3.0
  2. Confirm vold daemon is running
    Run 'ps -A | grep vold' via ADB shell or terminal emulator to verify the volume manager daemon is active
    Affected if The vold process is running, which is default on all affected Android versions
  3. Verify no additional app installation restrictions
    Check if the device allows installation from 'Unknown sources' in Settings > Security, or check if the device is managed by an MDM/EMM solution that restricts app installation
    Affected if Device allows installation of untrusted third-party apps from sources other than the official Play Store, increasing exposure to malicious local apps that could trigger the vulnerability

A device is affected if it runs Android version 2.0 through 2.3.3 or exactly version 3.0, has vold daemon active, and permits installation of untrusted local applications that could exploit the PF_NETLINK socket validation flaw.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.3.4 or later
Fixed in 2.3.4
Interim mitigation

Update Android devices to version 2.3.4 or later, which contains the patch for this vulnerability. For unpatchable devices, restrict access to local users and avoid running untrusted applications.

Recommended fix High confidence

Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) or later

  1. Check the current Android version on the device in Settings > About Phone
  2. Upgrade the Android device to version 2.3.4 or higher (preferably the latest available stable version for the device)
  3. If the device cannot be upgraded to 2.3.4 or higher, consider replacing the device as this is a root privilege escalation vulnerability
  4. For custom ROM users, ensure the ROM includes the vold fix from Android 2.3.4
Caveat Upgrading may result in data loss; ensure data is backed up prior to upgrade. Some older devices may not receive the 2.3.4 update and may need custom ROMs or replacement.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Android Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-1823 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data