CVE-2021-22495
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered on Samsung mobile devices with O(8.x), P(9.0), Q(10.0), and R(11.0) (Exynos chipsets) software. The Mali GPU driver allows out-of-bounds access and a device reset. The Samsung ID is SVE-2020-19174 (January 2021).
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 confidenceThe Mali GPU driver on Samsung mobile devices with Exynos chipsets running Android O(8.x), P(9.0), Q(10.0), and R(11.0) contains an out-of-bounds memory access vulnerability that can be triggered to cause a device reset (denial of service). The vulnerability resides in the GPU driver software and allows memory corruption leading to system instability.
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= 8.0= 8.1= 9.0= 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
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify device manufacturer and chipsetCheck if the device is a Samsung mobile device and verify it uses an Exynos chipset (typically listed in device specs or Settings > About Phone > Chipset)Affected if Device is not Samsung or does not use an Exynos chipset (this vulnerability only affects Exynos-based Samsung devices)
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Check Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if Android version is 8.0, 8.1, 9.0, 10.0, or 11.0 (versions outside this range are not affected)
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Confirm Mali GPU driver presenceVerify the device uses a Mali GPU (common in Exynos chipsets) by checking 'Settings > About Phone > GPU' or running 'lspci | grep -i mali' or checking /sys/class/misc/mali0 on the deviceAffected if Mali GPU driver is present (the vulnerability resides in this driver component)
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Verify patch installation statusCheck the Android security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Security patch level or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'Affected if Security patch level is earlier than January 2021 (Samsung SVE-2020-19174 was released in January 2021)
The device is affected if it is a Samsung device with an Exynos chipset running Android 8.0-11.0 and the security patch level is earlier than January 2021.
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 vendor security patch released by Samsung (SVE-2020-19174, January 2021). Users should check for and install available system updates. Organizations with affected devices should contact Samsung for patch availability and deployment timeline.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22495 — 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-2021-22495 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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