CVE-2023-20623
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 escalation of privilege due to improper locking. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS07559778; Issue ID: ALPS07559778.
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 confidenceIn the ion memory management subsystem (used in Android/Linux kernels), there is an improper locking vulnerability that could allow a local attacker to escalate privileges without needing additional execution privileges or user interaction. The flaw appears to be a race condition or missing lock in the ion driver that could be exploited to gain elevated access.
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= 10.0= 11.0= 12.0= 3.1= 3.3= 4.0CVSS 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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Determine if the ION memory manager is present in the kernelCheck kernel configuration or loaded modules: look for CONFIG_ION=y or CONFIG_ION=m in /boot/config-$(uname -r), or run 'lsmod | grep ion' to see if the ion module is loadedAffected if The ION subsystem is not compiled into the kernel or loaded as a module, then the vulnerability does not apply
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Identify the running kernel versionRun 'uname -r' to get the kernel version and compare it against the affected versions: Android 10.0, 11.0, 12.0 and Yocto 3.1, 3.3, 4.0Affected if The kernel version matches one of the listed affected versions exactly (e.g., Android kernel 12.0) or was built from those Android releases
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Verify if the ION driver device nodes existCheck for ION device entries in /dev or /sys/class/misc: look for files like /dev/ion, /dev/ion0, or check 'ls -la /sys/class/misc/ion/' if it existsAffected if The ION device nodes exist and are accessible, indicating the driver is active and the race condition could potentially be triggered
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Check for vendor-specific ION implementations on AndroidOn Android devices, examine /proc/ion/ or /sys/kernel/debug/ion/ for heap information: run 'ls /proc/ion/' or check vendor-specific paths like /vendor or /odm partitions for ion driversAffected if Vendor-specific ion heaps are present and exposed to userspace, which could be exploited for privilege escalation
A system is affected if it runs an Android 10.0/11.0/12.0 or Yocto 3.1/3.3/4.0 kernel with the ION memory manager subsystem enabled and accessible to local users.
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 patch ALPS07559778 to address the improper locking in the ion subsystem. This is a kernel-level patch that requires rebuilding and deploying an updated kernel image.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,576.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20623 — 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-2023-20623 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
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