AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2022-20489

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-26
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 many functions of AutomaticZenRule.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-242703460

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 AutomaticZenRule.java prevents proper persistence of permission settings across multiple functions. This allows a local attacker to escalate privileges without needing additional execution capabilities or user interaction, exploiting the failure in permission state management.

MitigationApply the Android security patch level that includes the fix for A-242703460. This is a framework-level vulnerability requiring a system update from Google; no user action beyond installing available security updates is required.

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 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.release'
    Affected if Version is 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, or 13.0
  2. Check security patch level
    Go to Settings > About Phone > Security patch level, or run 'adb shell getprop ro.build.version.security_patch'
    Affected if Security patch level is earlier than the date that includes the fix for A-242703460 (consult Android Security Bulletin for the specific date)
  3. Verify Zen Rules configuration access
    Check if the device has any AutomaticZenRule (Do Not Disturb) rules configured in Settings > Sound > Do Not Disturb > Schedules
    Affected if Any Zen Rules exist on the device, as the vulnerability exploits permission state management within these rules

The device is affected if running Android 10.0, 11.0, 12.0, 12.1, or 13.0 with a security patch level that predates the fix for A-242703460, and has Do Not Disturb/AutomaticZenRule schedules configured.

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 level that includes the fix for A-242703460. This is a framework-level vulnerability requiring a system update from Google; no user action beyond installing available security updates is required.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Android 13

  1. Check your Android device's current OS version in Settings > About Phone > Android version
  2. Upgrade your device to Android 13 (which includes the fix for this vulnerability)
  3. After upgrading, verify the Android security patch level is September 2022 or later in Settings > About Phone > Security patch level
  4. Ensure the upgrade completes successfully and permissions for AutomaticZenRule functions are properly persisted
Caveat Upgrading major Android versions may cause compatibility issues with older apps or result in data loss - backup data before upgrading

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

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,380
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2022-20489 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