dbcve.org
AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2022-20485

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-12-13
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
In NotificationChannel of NotificationChannel.java, there is a possible failure to persist permissions settings due to resource exhaustion. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android-10 Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L Android-13Android ID: A-242702935

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

A resource exhaustion vulnerability in Android's NotificationChannel component allows a local attacker to cause a failure in persisting notification permission settings, leading to local privilege escalation without requiring user interaction or additional execution privileges.

MitigationApply the Android security patch for November 2022 (or later) which addresses this vulnerability in the NotificationChannel system. Organizations with custom Android builds should backport the framework fix.

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:= 10.0= 11.0= 12.0= 12.1= 13.0

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 version
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shell. Compare the version number to the affected list: 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, 13.0
    Affected if The Android version is 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, or 13.0
  2. Verify security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' via ADB shell. Check if the date is November 2022 (2022-11-01) or later
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than November 2022 or the patch date cannot be verified
  3. Test NotificationChannel permission persistence
    Create a test app that requests notification permission via NotificationChannel, then reboot the device. Check if the notification permission settings persist after reboot. On affected devices, permission settings may fail to persist
    Affected if Notification permission settings fail to persist across device reboots or the NotificationChannel component exhibits resource exhaustion behavior
  4. Check for notification service interference
    Attempt to create multiple notification channels programmatically via an app. Observe if the system allows normal channel creation and persistence, or if resource exhaustion prevents proper storage of channel settings
    Affected if Unable to create or persist notification channels reliably, or receiving resource-related errors when managing NotificationChannel objects

A user is affected if their Android device runs version 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, or 13.0 and lacks the November 2022 security patch, as the NotificationChannel component will be vulnerable to resource exhaustion that prevents notification permission persistence.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the Android security patch for November 2022 (or later) which addresses this vulnerability in the NotificationChannel system. Organizations with custom Android builds should backport the framework fix.

Recommended fix High confidence

Android 13 or later

  1. Verify current Android version by navigating to Settings > About Phone > Android version
  2. Back up important data using cloud backup or local backup
  3. Upgrade to Android 13 (or later) which contains the security fix for this vulnerability
  4. To upgrade: Go to Settings > System > System update > Check for updates
  5. If carrier-controlled, contact carrier for update availability
  6. After upgrade, verify Android version shows 13 or higher in Settings > About Phone
Caveat Upgrading major Android versions may reset some app preferences or cause incompatibility with older apps; review app compatibility before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $15,616.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-20485 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2022-20485 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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