AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-9248

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
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 Android kernel in the FingerTipS touchscreen driver there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with System execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

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

In the Android kernel's FingerTipS touchscreen driver, an out of bounds write vulnerability exists due to a missing bounds check. This allows a local attacker with System-level access to escalate privileges further by exploiting the missing boundary validation in the touchscreen driver code.

MitigationApply the Android security patch level that addresses this vulnerability in the FingerTipS driver; kernel and driver updates from the device OEM or Android security bulletin should be deployed.

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:all versions

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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. Identify the Android Security Patch Level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Build Number (or Settings > Security > Security Patch Level on some devices) and note the displayed date (e.g., February 2020, March 2020)
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the date when this CVE was addressed in the Android security bulletin (CVE-2019-9248 was addressed in the Android Security Patch Level of February 2020 or later)
  2. Confirm the FingerTipS touchscreen driver is present
    Check /sys/class/input/ for touchscreen device entries or examine the kernel boot logs (dmesg | grep -i fingertips or dmesg | grep -i touchscreen) for FingerTipS driver loading
    Affected if The device uses the FingerTipS touchscreen driver; the vulnerability only applies if this specific driver is loaded on the device
  3. Verify System-level access exists
    Review user account permissions or check if any applications or processes hold SYSTEM-level privileges via 'ps -U system' or examining running services with uid 1000 (system)
    Affected if The attacker already has System-level access, which is required to exploit this vulnerability - the check determines if the privilege escalation path is relevant to the threat model

A device is affected if it uses the FingerTipS touchscreen driver and its Android Security Patch Level predates the February 2020 security update, allowing a System-level attacker to perform an out-of-bounds write for further privilege escalation.

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 addresses this vulnerability in the FingerTipS driver; kernel and driver updates from the device OEM or Android security bulletin should be deployed.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
28.0 hours of engineering $4,760
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2019-9248 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