AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2019-9338

MEDIUM · 6.5 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 →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 libavc there is a possible information disclosure due to uninitialized data. This could lead to remote information disclosure with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation. Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10Android ID: A-111762686

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 confidence

In libavc (a media/video codec library used in Android), there is an information disclosure vulnerability caused by uninitialized data being processed. When the library handles media data, certain buffers or data structures are not properly initialized before use, potentially allowing sensitive memory contents to be leaked through media output. Exploitation requires user interaction, such as processing a specially crafted media file.

MitigationUpdate Android to a version that includes the patched libavc library, or apply vendor-supplied security patches that properly initialize data structures in libavc before media processing.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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
    Affected if The device is running Android version 10.0 exactly (not a later patch version)
  2. Verify libavc library presence
    Check for libavc library files in /system/lib/ or /vendor/lib/ directories via ADB shell (ls -la /system/lib/libavc* 2>/dev/null || ls -la /vendor/lib/libavc* 2>/dev/null)
    Affected if The libavc library is present on the device and the Android version is 10.0
  3. Identify media applications using libavc
    Review installed applications that process video media and check which ones utilize the libavc codec for decoding
    Affected if Media applications that rely on libavc for video decoding are installed and in use on an Android 10.0 device
  4. Confirm untrusted media file processing capability
    Determine if the device accepts media input from untrusted sources such as email attachments, web downloads, or messaging apps
    Affected if The device processes media files from untrusted sources and is running Android 10.0 with the vulnerable libavc library

A user is affected if their device runs Android version 10.0 and processes media files using the libavc library, as the vulnerability exploits uninitialized data during media handling.

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

Update Android to a version that includes the patched libavc library, or apply vendor-supplied security patches that properly initialize data structures in libavc before media processing.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,120
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-9338 — 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-2019-9338 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
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