CVE-2022-20017
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 ion driver, there is a possible information disclosure due to an incorrect bounds check. This could lead to local information disclosure with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS05862991; Issue ID: ALPS05862991.
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 confidenceThis is a bounds check vulnerability in the Android Ion memory allocator driver (ion.ko). An incorrect bounds check allows a local attacker to read memory beyond allocated buffers, leading to information disclosure. The flaw requires no special privileges or user interaction to exploit.
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= 10.0= 11.0= 12.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 OS versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android version. Confirm it shows 10, 11, or 12.Affected if Version is 10.0, 11.0, or 12.0 (exact match)
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Verify Ion kernel driver is presentCheck if /system/lib/modules/ion.ko or /lib/modules/ion.ko exists, or run 'lsmod | grep ion' to see if the driver is loaded.Affected if The Ion driver (ion.ko) is present or loaded on the device
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Check Ion driver version if exposedRun 'modinfo ion' or check any version files in /sys/module/ion/ for version information.Affected if Driver version cannot be determined or matches unpatched builds
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Confirm ion heap configurationCheck /sys/kernel/debug/ion/ or run 'ion_heap_info' to list available Ion heaps and their configurations.Affected if Any Ion heap is configured (the vulnerability affects the bounds check logic in the driver itself)
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Check kernel logs for related errorsRun 'dmesg | grep -i ion' or check /proc/kmsg for Ion-related messages that may indicate the vulnerable code path.Affected if No patches or ALPS05862991 references are present in kernel logs
Device is affected if running Android 10.0, 11.0, or 12.0 with the Ion driver (ion.ko) present and the ALPS05862991 patch has not 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.
dbcve · scopedApply patch ALPS05862991 to the ion driver to correct the bounds checking logic. This is a kernel-level fix requiring a system update or kernel patch deployment.
- Obtain the MediaTek security patch ALPS05862991 from MediaTek's official security update channels
- Apply the patch through the device manufacturer's firmware update process
- Verify the patch has been applied by checking the Android security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing5.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-20017 — 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-2022-20017 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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- 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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