CVE-2022-20256
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 the Audio HAL, there is a possible out of bounds write 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.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-13Android ID: A-222572821
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 confidenceA race condition in the Android Audio HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) causes an out-of-bounds write, which can be exploited for local privilege escalation from System privileges. The vulnerability requires System-level access to exploit but does not require user interaction.
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= 13.0CVSS 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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Verify Android versionCheck the device Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via adb shellAffected if The version is exactly 13.0 (not 13.0.1, 13.1, or higher)
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Check security patch levelRun 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via adb shell or check Settings > About Phone > Security patch levelAffected if The patch level is earlier than the official fix date for this CVE (the device has not received the security update containing the fix)
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Confirm Audio HAL is in useCheck for audio HAL service by running 'getprop audio.hal.service.name' or inspecting /vendor/etc/audio_policy_configuration.xml via adb shellAffected if Audio HAL service exists and is active (which is default on Android 13.0 devices)
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Verify System-level access existsDetermine if your application or process runs with System user privileges by checking process UID (run 'ps -A | grep <process>' and check UID)Affected if You have System-level access (uid 1000) or higher privileges on the device
You are affected if running Android 13.0 exactly without the security patch fix, with Audio HAL active, and you have System-level access on the device.
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 latest Android security patch level for Android-13 that addresses this vulnerability. For custom Android implementations, review and patch the Audio HAL synchronization mechanisms to prevent the race condition.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 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 $8,960.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-20256 — 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-2022-20256 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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