AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2022-20216

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-13
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
android exported is used to set third-party app access permissions, and the default value of intent-filter is true. com.sprd.firewall has set exported as true.Product: AndroidVersions: Android SoCAndroid ID: A-231911916

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

The com.sprd.firewall component in Android SoC has the exported attribute set to true, which improperly allows third-party applications to access and potentially manipulate firewall settings. Since intent-filter defaults to true, this exposes the firewall management interface to any installed app, enabling privilege escalation and unauthorized security configuration changes.

MitigationSet android:exported="false" in the AndroidManifest.xml for the com.sprd.firewall component unless external app access is explicitly required. If legitimate third-party access is needed, implement proper permission checks and consider using signature-level permissions.

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. Check if com.sprd.firewall component exists on the device
    Run 'pm list packages | grep sprd' or 'pm list packages -3' to list third-party packages. Alternatively, use 'aapt dump badging <apk>' on the system image to search for the component.
    Affected if The package containing com.sprd.firewall is present on the device
  2. Inspect the exported attribute of the com.sprd.firewall component
    Use 'aapt dump badging <apk_path>' and look for the 'exported' flag in the component declaration, or decompile the APK and examine AndroidManifest.xml for the component definition.
    Affected if The component has android:exported="true" or has no android:exported attribute set (defaults to true when intent-filter exists)
  3. Verify if the component declares any permissions
    Examine the AndroidManifest.xml or aapt output to see if android:permission is defined on the com.sprd.firewall component. Check if signature-level permissions are required.
    Affected if No android:permission is defined, allowing any installed app to access the component
  4. Confirm the component is accessible to third-party apps
    Use 'dumpsys package <component_name>' or check via ADB with 'pm dump' to verify the component accepts intents from other applications.
    Affected if The component accepts intents from non-system apps without restriction

The device is affected if the com.sprd.firewall component is present and its android:exported attribute is either set to true or not explicitly set to false, allowing any installed app to manipulate firewall settings.

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

Set android:exported="false" in the AndroidManifest.xml for the com.sprd.firewall component unless external app access is explicitly required. If legitimate third-party access is needed, implement proper permission checks and consider using signature-level permissions.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,080
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2022-20216 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
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