CVE-2022-20091
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 aee driver, there is a possible use after free 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: ALPS06209201; Issue ID: ALPS06226345.
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 aee driver (Android Error Debugging driver, commonly found on MediaTek-based Android devices) contains a race condition that leads to a use-after-free vulnerability. An attacker with System-level execution privileges can exploit this race condition to achieve local privilege escalation to root. No user interaction is required for exploitation.
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= 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm MediaTek chipset in useCheck /proc/cpuinfo or use 'getprop ro.hardware' to verify the device uses a MediaTek SoC. The aee driver is specific to MediaTek platforms.Affected if Device is not MediaTek-based (aee driver only exists on MediaTek)
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Verify Android OS versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone to determine the installed Android version.Affected if Android version is 11.0 or 12.0 exactly (only these versions are affected)
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Check for aee driver presenceLook for /dev/aee* or check /sys/module/aed (Android Error Debugging module) existence. Use 'ls -la /dev/aee*' or 'cat /proc/modules | grep aee'.Affected if The aee driver/module is not present on the device (vulnerability cannot apply)
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Inspect kernel patch levelCheck /proc/version or use 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' to see if ALPS06209201 patch has been applied by the vendor.Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the vendor fix (vulnerability remains unpatched)
Device is affected if it is MediaTek-based, runs Android 11.0 or 12.0, contains the aee driver, and lacks the ALPS06209201 vendor patch.
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 the vendor patch ALPS06209201 to address the race condition in the aee driver. This is a kernel-level driver issue requiring a system or firmware update from the device/vendor.
- Contact MediaTek directly to obtain the patch ALPS06209201 for the aee driver vulnerability
- Apply the MediaTek patch ALPS06209201 which addresses issue ID ALPS06226345
- Ensure the patch is integrated into the kernel build for the affected Android devices
- Flash the updated firmware containing the patched aee driver to affected devices
- Verify the patch has been applied by checking the kernel version or build containing the security fix
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-20091 — 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-2022-20091 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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