CVE-2021-0401
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 vow, there is a possible memory corruption due to a race condition. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with System execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation. Product: Android; Versions: Android-10, Android-11; Patch ID: ALPS05418265.
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 race condition in Android's vow (Voice Wake-up) component can lead to memory corruption, potentially allowing a local attacker with System execution privileges to escalate privileges. The vulnerability requires user interaction to trigger, and affects Android-10 and Android-11 devices.
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= 10.0= 11.0CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Android OS versionGo to Settings > About Phone or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release' to retrieve the Android versionAffected if The version is 10.0 or 11.0 exactly
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Verify vow (Voice Wake-up) feature is enabledCheck device settings for voice wake-up functionality in system apps or accessibility services, or inspect system configuration files related to vowAffected if The vow feature is actively enabled or configured on the device
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Confirm system-level execution contextReview installed applications with System privileges or analyze running processes with elevated permissions using 'adb shell ps -A'Affected if Applications or processes with System execution privileges exist on the device
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Check installed patch levelRun 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' to see the installed security patch dateAffected if The security patch level is earlier than the vendor patch ALPS05418265 or is at the Android-10/11 level without the specific fix
The device is affected if it runs Android 10.0 or 11.0, has the vow feature enabled, and lacks the vendor patch ALPS05418265 addressing the race condition.
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 vendor patch ALPS05418265 which addresses the race condition in the vow component. Since this requires System privileges and user interaction, ensure timely security updates are deployed to affected devices.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0401 — 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-2021-0401 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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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.
- 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