CVE-2021-0531
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 use after 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-185195272
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 use-after-free vulnerability exists in an Android memory management driver. The vulnerability allows a local attacker to corrupt memory by accessing freed memory regions, potentially leading to local privilege escalation without requiring additional execution privileges or user interaction.
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.
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Check Android security patch levelGo to Settings > About Phone > Build Number, or run `getprop ro.build.version.security_patch` via ADB. This displays the installed security patch date (e.g., 2021-02-01, 2021-03-01, 2021-04-01, etc.).Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the month when this CVE was fixed (CVE-2021-0531 was fixed in the Android security patch released April 2021 or later).
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Verify kernel memory management driverRun `cat /proc/modules` or `lsmod` via ADB to list loaded kernel modules. Look for memory management or DMA-related drivers (exact driver name varies by SoC vendor - may include ions, mm, dma, or vendor-specific memory drivers).Affected if A memory management driver is loaded and the device lacks the corresponding vendor firmware update.
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Check device vendor firmware statusCheck Settings > About Phone > Software Updates, or run `getprop ro.vendor.build.version.sdk` and `getprop ro.build.version.sdk` via ADB to identify the Android version. Then verify with the device manufacturer whether a firmware update addressing this CVE has been released.Affected if The device is running an Android version without the vendor-specific security update that includes the fix for this driver-level flaw.
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Confirm SoC vendor patch statusRun `getprop ro.chipname` or `cat /proc/cpuinfo` via ADB to identify the System-on-Chip (SoC) vendor (Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung Exynos, etc.). Then check the vendor's security advisory or contact them directly for the patch status of this specific CVE.Affected if The SoC vendor has not released a firmware/security update that addresses the use-after-free in their memory management driver for the installed SoC.
The device is affected if the Android security patch level is earlier than the fix release date and no vendor-specific firmware update addressing CVE-2021-0531 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 level that addresses this vulnerability. This is a driver-level issue requiring a firmware/system update from the SoC vendor.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0531 — 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-2021-0531 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
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