CVE-2021-0532
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 race condition. 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-185196177
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 the Android memory management driver leads to memory corruption, enabling local privilege escalation without requiring additional user execution privileges. The vulnerability exists in the kernel-level memory management component of Android System-on-Chip (SoC) implementations.
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
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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.
-
Check Android Security Patch LevelGo to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level (or Settings > System > Security Update on some devices). Note the date listed.Affected if The Security Patch Level is earlier than the date when the fix for A-185196177 was released (typically March 2021 or later, depending on device manufacturer).
-
Identify SoC VendorCheck your device specifications to determine the System-on-Chip manufacturer (Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung Exynos, etc.). This information is usually in Settings > About Phone or on the manufacturer's website.Affected if The device uses a SoC that contained the vulnerable memory management driver code, which applies to most Android devices across all SoC vendors.
-
Verify Kernel VersionOn the device, use a terminal app or ADB to run 'uname -a' or check Settings > About Phone > Kernel Version.Affected if The kernel version predates the vendor-specific fix for this race condition in the memory management driver.
A user is affected if their device Security Patch Level predates the March 2021 Android security update, since this SoC-level kernel vulnerability cannot be individually verified and is addressed only through vendor-provided patch levels.
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 includes the fix for A-185196177. Since this is a SoC-level kernel driver vulnerability, users must obtain patched updates from their device manufacturer or SoC vendor.
- Consultation10.0 h
- Implementation20.0 h
- Testing20.0 h
- Review / QA12.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $17,216.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-0532 — 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-2021-0532 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