CVE-2020-0221
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 · uneditedAirbrush FW's scratch memory allocator is susceptible to numeric overflow. When the overflow occurs, the next allocation could potentially return a pointer within the previous allocation's memory, which could lead to improper memory access.Product: AndroidVersions: Android kernelAndroid ID: A-135772851
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 confidenceInteger overflow in Airbrush FW's scratch memory allocator allows the allocation size to wrap around. When this occurs, subsequent allocations can return pointers that fall within the bounds of previous allocations, leading to improper memory access and potential arbitrary code execution.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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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Identify if Airbrush firmware is presentCheck system firmware information for Airbrush component (e.g., check /proc/firmware or vendor-specific diagnostic interfaces)Affected if Airbrush FW scratch memory allocator is present and active in the system
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Verify the scratch memory allocator is in useDetermine if any processes or subsystems are making allocations through the Airbrush scratch allocatorAffected if The scratch memory allocator is invoked and allocation size can reach values that cause integer overflow (wrap around to small values)
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Confirm allocation size can wrapMonitor allocation requests to the Airbrush scratch allocator to see if large size values can be provided that cause the size to wrap aroundAffected if Allocation requests can specify sizes large enough to cause integer overflow in the size calculation
The environment is affected if Airbrush firmware with the vulnerable scratch memory allocator is present and allocations with wrapping sizes can be triggered.
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 bounds checking on allocation size calculations in the Airbrush scratch allocator to prevent integer overflow, and validate that returned pointers do not overlap with existing allocations.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-0221 — 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-2020-0221 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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