dbcve.org
Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 20 Apr 2023.
Bifrost Gpu Kernel DriverApplication · Arm

CVE-2022-38181

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-10-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Remotely reachable 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
The Arm Mali GPU kernel driver allows unprivileged users to access freed memory because GPU memory operations are mishandled. This affects Bifrost r0p0 through r38p1, and r39p0; Valhall r19p0 through r38p1, and r39p0; and Midgard r4p0 through r32p0.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in Arm Mali GPU kernel driver where GPU memory operations are mishandled, allowing unprivileged users to access freed memory. This affects multiple GPU architectures (Bifrost, Valhall, Midgard) across a wide range of versions.

MitigationUpdate to patched versions of the Mali GPU driver provided by Arm or through device/OEM firmware updates. For embedded systems, obtain updated driver binaries from the GPU vendor.

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
Bifrost Gpu Kernel DriverApplication
Affected:>= r0p0, <= r38p1= r39p0
Midgard Gpu Kernel DriverApplication
Affected:>= r4p0, <= r31p0
Valhall Gpu Kernel DriverApplication
Affected:>= r19p0, <= r38p1= r39p0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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. Identify if the system has an Arm Mali GPU
    Check kernel modules loaded or hardware info. On Linux, use 'lsmod | grep -i mali' to list loaded Mali modules, or 'lspci | grep -i mali' for discrete GPUs. On Android, check /proc/gpuinfo or use 'cat /sys/class/misc/mali0/device/device/uevent' if available.
    Affected if No Mali GPU or driver is present means the system is not affected.
  2. Determine the Mali GPU kernel driver version
    Query the loaded Mali kernel module version. On Linux, use 'modinfo <mali_module_name>' (commonly mali_kbase, mali, or panfrost) to retrieve the driver version string. On Android, check /sys/module/<mali_module_name>/version or /sys/class/misc/mali0/device/device/version if available.
    Affected if The driver version cannot be determined or is not one of the affected Bifrost, Valhall, or Midgard drivers.
  3. Compare driver version against affected Bifrost ranges
    If using a Bifrost driver, verify the version falls within r0p0 through r38p1 inclusive, or is exactly r39p0. These correspond to version strings like 'r38p1-01eac0' or 'r39p0' in the modinfo output.
    Affected if The installed Bifrost version is r0p0 to r38p1 or exactly r39p0.
  4. Compare driver version against affected Valhall ranges
    If using a Valhall driver, verify the version falls within r19p0 through r38p1 inclusive, or is exactly r39p0. These appear as version strings like 'r19p0-01eac0' or 'r38p1' in the driver info.
    Affected if The installed Valhall version is r19p0 to r38p1 or exactly r39p0.
  5. Compare driver version against affected Midgard ranges
    If using a Midgard driver, verify the version falls within r4p0 through r31p0 inclusive. These appear as version strings like 'r4p0-01eac0' or 'r31p0' in the driver info.
    Affected if The installed Midgard version is r4p0 to r31p0.

The system is affected only if it has an Arm Mali GPU (Bifrost, Valhall, or Midgard microarchitecture) with a kernel driver version matching the specified vulnerable ranges.

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

Update to patched versions of the Mali GPU driver provided by Arm or through device/OEM firmware updates. For embedded systems, obtain updated driver binaries from the GPU vendor.

Fix this in Bifrost Gpu Kernel Driver Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-38181 — 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-2022-38181 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