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AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2021-0945

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-06-15
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
In _PMRCreate of the PowerVR kernel driver, a missing bounds check means it is possible to overwrite heap memory via PhysmemNewRamBackedPMR. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

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 confidence

A missing bounds check in the _PMRCreate function of the PowerVR kernel driver allows heap memory overwrite through the PhysmemNewRamBackedPMR operation. This enables local privilege escalation without requiring user interaction or additional execution privileges.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied kernel driver and firmware updates for PowerVR graphics components that add proper bounds validation in the PMRCreate function.

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
AndroidOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify PowerVR graphics hardware in use
    Check /proc/pvr or /sys/class/pvr_dev/ for PowerVR device info, or use 'getprop ro.hardware' and 'cat /proc/meminfo' combined with GPU info from /system/lib/modules/
    Affected if Device contains Imagination Technologies PowerVR GPU hardware
  2. Verify PowerVR kernel driver is loaded
    Run 'lsmod' and look for modules like 'pvrsrvkm', 'impl_pvr', or check /proc/devices for PowerVR-related device nodes under /dev/
    Affected if PowerVR kernel driver module is present and loaded
  3. Confirm Android OS is the target platform
    Check 'getprop ro.build.version.sdk' and 'getprop ro.build.version.release' to confirm Android is running
    Affected if Device is running any version of Google Android OS (all versions affected)
  4. Check for vulnerable PMRCreate function exposure
    Verify the PhysmemNewRamBackedPMR operation is accessible by examining if /dev/pvrsrv or similar PowerVR device nodes exist and are readable/writable by the current user context
    Affected if PowerVR device nodes exist and are accessible, enabling the vulnerable PhysmemNewRamBackedPMR operation path

A device is affected if it runs Android on PowerVR graphics hardware with the kernel driver loaded and the vulnerable PMRCreate function accessible through exposed device nodes.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied kernel driver and firmware updates for PowerVR graphics components that add proper bounds validation in the PMRCreate function.

Recommended fix High confidence

Android Security Patch Level 2022-01-01 or later (January 2022 Android Security Bulletin)

  1. 1. Go to Settings on the Android device
  2. 2. Navigate to System > Software Update (or Settings > About Phone > System Update)
  3. 3. Check for and install any available system updates
  4. 4. Ensure the installed security patch level is January 2022 (2022-01-01) or later
  5. 5. After update, verify the security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Android version shows the January 2022 security patch or later
Caveat Users should ensure backup of data before performing system update; some older devices may not receive this specific update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,120
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-0945 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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