AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2022-20433

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-10-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
There is an missing authorization issue in the system service. Since the component does not have permission check , resulting in Local Elevation of privilege.Product: AndroidVersions: Android SoCAndroid ID: A-242221901

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

This is a missing authorization vulnerability in an Android system service component within the SoC (System on Chip). The affected system service lacks proper permission validation checks, allowing a local attacker to elevate privileges and access functionality they should not have permission to use.

MitigationApply the Android security patch level (2022-11-01 or later) from your device/SOC manufacturer that addresses A-242221901. Until then, limit device access to untrusted applications and monitor for suspicious local service interactions.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 Android security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than November 2022 or the property returns an empty/null value indicating no patch applied
  2. Verify Android OS version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if The Android version is any release (all versions affected per vendor advisory)
  3. Identify SoC provider and verify vendor update availability
    Run 'adb shell getprop ro.board.platform' and 'adb shell getprop ro.vendor' to identify the SoC/system-on-chip provider
    Affected if The device manufacturer has not released a security update addressing A-242221901 for your specific SoC/platform
  4. Check for presence of the vulnerable system service
    Run 'adb shell service list' to enumerate available system services; for SoC-specific services, check 'adb shell pm list packages | grep -i soc' or review SoC vendor documentation for the affected component name
    Affected if The vulnerable system service component is present and accessible without proper permission checks (requires reverse engineering or vendor disclosure to confirm exact service name)

The device is likely affected if the security patch level is before November 2022 and the device has not received the vendor-specific SoC update addressing CVE-2022-20433.

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 the Android security patch level (2022-11-01 or later) from your device/SOC manufacturer that addresses A-242221901. Until then, limit device access to untrusted applications and monitor for suspicious local service interactions.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,120
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-20433 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-20433 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