CVE-2021-0528
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 memory corruption due to a double free. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android SoCAndroid ID: A-185195266
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 confidenceA double-free vulnerability exists in the Android memory management driver (SoC component). The flaw allows memory to be freed twice, causing memory corruption that can be exploited for local privilege escalation 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 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
- 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.
-
Confirm Android device is in scopeRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone to identify the Android versionAffected if Any Android version is present, as all versions are affected according to the CVE data
-
Identify the SoC vendorRun 'getprop ro.board.platform' or 'getprop ro.hardware' to identify the chipset manufacturer (Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung, etc.)Affected if The device uses a SoC with the affected memory management driver - this is device-specific and the CVE does not list specific SoC models
-
Check if the memory management driver module is presentRun 'ls /sys/class/misc/' or check '/dev/' for memory management device nodes; examine kernel modules with 'lsmod' if availableAffected if The vulnerable driver module exists on the device and the specific SoC driver is loaded
-
Verify security patch levelRun 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' to check the installed security patch dateAffected if The security patch level is earlier than the fix date for CVE-2021-0528 (A-185195266) - the CVE does not specify the exact patch release date
-
Check kernel logs for double-free indicatorsRun 'dmesg | grep -iE "double free|memory|corruption"' or check '/proc/kmsg' for memory management errorsAffected if Double-free errors or memory corruption messages related to the SoC driver appear in kernel logs
The device is affected if it runs any Android version with a vulnerable SoC memory management driver and lacks the CVE-2021-0528 security patch; since all Android versions are listed as affected, the primary determination is whether the patch has been applied.
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 for CVE-2021-0528 (A-185195266) to the affected SoC memory management driver. The fix requires proper validation checks before freeing memory and ensuring pointers are nullified after deallocation.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0528 — 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-2021-0528 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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