CVE-2022-21743
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 ion, there is a possible use after free due to an integer overflow. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS06371108; Issue ID: ALPS06371108.
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 confidenceA use-after-free vulnerability exists in the ion memory allocator due to an integer overflow. The overflow allows a buffer to be allocated smaller than required, leading to out-of-bounds memory access and subsequent use-after-free conditions. This can be exploited for local privilege escalation without requiring user interaction or additional execution privileges.
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= 9.0= 10.0= 11.0= 12.0CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Android versionGo to Settings > About Phone > Android version, or run 'getprop ro.build.version.release' via ADB shellAffected if The version is 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, or 12.0 exactly
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Confirm ion driver presenceCheck if /dev/ion exists by running 'ls -la /dev/ion' via ADB shell or in a terminal emulatorAffected if The /dev/ion device node exists, indicating the ion memory allocator is available
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Check ion driver accessibilityVerify read/write access to /dev/ion using 'ls -la /dev/ion' or attempt to open the device programmaticallyAffected if The ion device is accessible without additional privileges (common on unpatched affected devices)
You are affected if your Android device runs version 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, or 12.0 AND the ion memory allocator driver (/dev/ion) is present and accessible 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.
dbcve · scopedApply the provided patch ALPS06371108 to address the integer overflow in ion's memory allocation path. If a patch is unavailable, consider disabling ion or restricting access to the ion driver through SELinux policies until an update is available.
Android Security Patch Level February 2022 or later; or Android 12.0+ with corresponding MediaTek firmware
- Check the current Android Security Patch Level on the device (Settings > About Phone > Security Patch Level)
- Update to the latest available Android security update that includes the CVE-2022-21743 fix
- For MediaTek-based devices, verify the ALPS06371108 patch is included in the update
- If no update is available from the device OEM, consider upgrading to a newer Android version (12.0 or later) which includes the fix
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $11,520.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21743 — 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-2022-21743 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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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.
- 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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