AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-2189

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
In the Easel driver, there is possible memory corruption due to race conditions. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with System execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android kernelAndroid ID: A-112312381

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

A race condition vulnerability exists in the Android kernel's Easel driver (a graphics/display driver, likely used in Pixel devices) that leads to memory corruption. An attacker with System-level execution privileges can exploit the race window to achieve memory corruption, potentially elevating to root privileges. No user interaction is required.

MitigationApply the Android security patch level that includes the fix for A-112312381, which requires updating the kernel/Easel driver with proper synchronization primitives (locks, mutexes) to eliminate the race condition in memory access patterns.

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:= 10.0

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
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/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 the Android version installed on the device
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Android version (or run `getprop ro.build.version.release` via adb shell)
    Affected if The device is running Android version 10.0 exactly (not 10.1, 9.x, or other versions)
  2. Verify the security patch level
    Navigate to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level (or run `getprop ro.build.version.security_patch` via adb shell)
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the patch that includes the fix for A-112312381 (any date before the patched release)
  3. Determine if the device uses the Easel driver
    Check kernel boot logs (dmesg) or /proc/modules for Easel-related kernel modules, or review the kernel configuration if accessible
    Affected if The device contains and loads the Easel graphics/display driver module (common in Pixel devices)

A device is affected if it runs Android 10.0 exactly AND uses the Easel driver, and the security patch level predates the fix for A-112312381.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Android security patch level that includes the fix for A-112312381, which requires updating the kernel/Easel driver with proper synchronization primitives (locks, mutexes) to eliminate the race condition in memory access patterns.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-2189 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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-2019-2189 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