CVE-2019-9290
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 · uneditedIn tzdata there is possible memory corruption due to a mismatch between allocation and deallocation functions. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10Android ID: A-113039724
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 · moderate confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability exists in tzdata (timezone database) where allocation and deallocation functions are mismatched (e.g., using malloc() with free() incorrectly, or new/delete mismatches). This memory management error can be exploited for local privilege escalation on Android-10 devices without requiring user interaction or additional execution privileges.
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= 10.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Android version is 10.0Run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if The displayed version is exactly 10.0 (Android 10)
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Identify tzdata package presenceRun 'pm list packages | grep tzdata' or check /system/usr/share/zoneinfo/ directory existsAffected if The tzdata package is installed on the device
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Check timezone configuration is activeRun 'getprop persist.sys.timezone' to verify a timezone is setAffected if A timezone is configured and tzdata is being used by the system
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Verify the device lacks the security patchRun 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' and compare to the patch date for CVE-2019-9290 (typically October 2019 or later)Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the patch that addresses this CVE
The device is affected if it is running Android 10.0 with a tzdata version that predates the October 2019 security patch, as this version-specific memory corruption vulnerability requires both the vulnerable tzdata code and the Android 10 environment to be exploitable.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the Android security patch that includes the patched tzdata version for Android-10. This is typically delivered via monthly security OTA updates.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $9,728.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-9290 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-9290 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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