CVE-2022-32644
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 vow, there is a possible use after free 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: ALPS07494473; Issue ID: ALPS07494473.
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 confidenceA race condition in MediaTek's vow (Voice Wake) component leads to a use-after-free vulnerability. An attacker with local access can exploit this race condition to achieve local privilege escalation to System privileges, without requiring user interaction.
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= 11.0= 12.0= 13.0CVSS 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
- 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm MediaTek chipset presenceRun 'getprop ro.hardware' or check /proc/cpuinfo for MediaTek platform identifiers. The vow component is MediaTek-specific and only exists on MediaTek-powered devices.Affected if Device does not use a MediaTek chipset - the vulnerability only exists on MediaTek SoCs with the vow (Voice Wake) component.
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Verify Android version is affectedRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' to check the Android OS version.Affected if Version is 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 - only these specific Android versions are listed as affected.
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Confirm vow voice wake feature is enabledCheck for MediaTek vow service/process by examining running processes ('ps -A | grep vow') or checking MediaTek-specific system properties via 'getprop | grep vow'. The vulnerability requires the vow component to be active.Affected if Vow component is present and running on the device - the race condition occurs within this specific subsystem.
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Check vendor patch application statusRun 'getprop ro.build.version.security.patch' to obtain the security patch level. Compare against the patch date corresponding to ALPS07494473.Affected if Security patch level is older than the vendor fix - the vulnerability remains unpatched.
A device is affected if it runs Android 11.0, 12.0, or 13.0 on MediaTek hardware with the vow component enabled, and the ALPS07494473 patch has not been applied.
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.
From vendor dataApply the vendor patch ALPS07494473 through MediaTek firmware update. Verify the race condition fix addresses the memory management issue in the vow component.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,864.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-32644 — 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-2022-32644 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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- 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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