AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2022-21789

MEDIUM · 6.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-08-01
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 audio ipi, there is a possible memory corruption 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. Patch ID: ALPS06478101; Issue ID: ALPS06478101.

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

A race condition in the MediaTek audio IPI (Inter-Processor Interface) driver allows memory corruption leading to local privilege escalation from user space to System privileges without user interaction. The vulnerability exists in the audio subsystem communication path between processors.

MitigationApply MediaTek patch ALPS06478101 through vendor OTA updates. This is a kernel-space driver vulnerability requiring firmware/OS updates from device manufacturers; no user-facing configuration can mitigate it.

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:= 11.0= 12.0

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
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 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
    Affected if Version is exactly 11.0 or 12.0
  2. Identify system-on-chip vendor
    Run 'getprop ro.hardware' or check /proc/cpuinfo via ADB shell to determine if device uses MediaTek chipset
    Affected if Device uses a MediaTek (MTK) chipset since the vulnerability is in MediaTek audio IPI driver
  3. Check kernel build info
    Run 'uname -a' or check /proc/version via ADB shell to view kernel version details
    Affected if Kernel version corresponds to Android 11.0 or 12.0 builds with MediaTek audio subsystem
  4. Verify audio driver presence
    Check for audio IPI driver files in /sys/module/ or /kernel/drivers/ directory via ADB shell - look for modules containing 'audio' and 'ipi' in name
    Affected if MediaTek audio IPI driver is loaded in the kernel

Device is affected if running Android 11.0 or 12.0 on a MediaTek-powered device with the vulnerable audio IPI driver present in the kernel.

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 MediaTek patch ALPS06478101 through vendor OTA updates. This is a kernel-space driver vulnerability requiring firmware/OS updates from device manufacturers; no user-facing configuration can mitigate it.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,040
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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-2022-21789 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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