AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2022-20013

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 vow driver, there is a possible memory corruption due to a race condition. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with System execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS05837742; Issue ID: ALPS05837742.

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 confidence

A race condition in the vow driver leads to memory corruption, which can be exploited to achieve local privilege escalation from any user to System-level execution. The vulnerability does not require user interaction.

MitigationApply patch ALPS05837742 to update the vow driver and remediate the race condition. Verify the driver loads correctly after patching.

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:= 10.0= 11.0

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
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/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 Android version
    Check the device or system Android version by going to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell
    Affected if The version is Android 10.0 or Android 11.0 exactly (version matches = 10.0 or = 11.0)
  2. Locate the vow driver module
    Search for the vow driver file in the kernel modules directory or system drivers path. Common locations include /system/lib/modules/ or /vendor/lib/modules/. Use 'find / -name *vow* 2>/dev/null' via ADB shell to locate driver files
    Affected if A vow driver file exists on the device, indicating the vulnerable component is present
  3. Verify driver is loaded
    Check if the vow driver is currently loaded in memory by running 'lsmod | grep vow' or checking /proc/modules via ADB shell
    Affected if The vow driver module is actively loaded in the kernel
  4. Check for patched driver version
    If the vow driver file is found, examine its metadata or version information using 'modinfo <vow_driver_path>' or check the file properties
    Affected if The driver version cannot be verified as patched, or the driver predates patch ALPS05837742

The environment is affected if running Android 10.0 or 11.0 with the vow driver loaded and no evidence of the ALPS05837742 patch applied to the driver

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply patch ALPS05837742 to update the vow driver and remediate the race condition. Verify the driver loads correctly after patching.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-20013 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