CVE-2021-0421
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 memory management driver, there is a possible information disclosure due to a missing bounds check. This could lead to local information disclosure with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS05403499; Issue ID: ALPS05381235.
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 missing bounds check in a memory management driver allows local information disclosure without requiring additional privileges or user interaction. An attacker could potentially read kernel memory contents due to the unchecked buffer access.
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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Android versionOpen Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'Affected if Version displays as 10.0 or 11.0 exactly
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Confirm memory management driver presenceCheck if the device uses a memory management driver component - this is typically present in all Android devices handling heap/page allocationAffected if Device has any memory management driver active (standard on all Android devices)
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Assess local access exposureDetermine if untrusted local applications or processes can access the deviceAffected if Device allows installation of third-party apps or has multiple user accounts enabled
Device is affected if running Android 10.0 or 11.0 and has an active memory management driver, as the bounds check vulnerability exists in these specific versions.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply vendor patch ALPS05403499 to address the missing bounds check in the memory management driver component.
Android 10.0 with February 2021 Security Patch or later / Android 11.0 with February 2021 Security Patch or later
- Check if your device has Android Security Patch Level from February 2021 or later, which includes the fix for CVE-2021-0421
- Contact your device manufacturer (OEM) to confirm they have applied MediaTek patch ALPS05403499 for this vulnerability
- If your device manufacturer has not released an update containing this patch, consider applying any available Android security updates
- Verify the installed patch level by going to Settings > About Phone > Android version or Security Patch Level
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0421 — 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-2021-0421 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data