CVE-2023-20642
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 ril, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with System execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS07628586; Issue ID: ALPS07628586.
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 confidenceIn Android's RIL (Radio Interface Layer), a missing bounds check allows an out-of-bounds write vulnerability. This enables local privilege escalation from System execution privileges, requiring no user interaction for exploitation.
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= 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
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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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Check Android versionRun 'getprop ro.build.version.release' or check Settings > About Phone > Android versionAffected if Version is exactly 12.0 or 13.0
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Verify RIL daemon is activeRun 'ps -A | grep rild' or check for rild process in process listAffected if RIL daemon (rild) is running (this is the vulnerable component)
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Confirm baseband processor is presentCheck for baseband/modem functionality via 'getprop gsm.version.baseband' or check phone signal statusAffected if Device has active radio/baseband subsystem (required for RIL to be exploitable)
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Check current privilege levelRun 'id' command to confirm process is running with System-level privileges (uid 1000)Affected if Exploiting this vulnerability requires System user privileges or shell access
Device is affected if running Android 12.0 or 13.0 with an active RIL daemon, as the missing bounds check vulnerability exists in these specific Android versions.
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 vendor-supplied security patch (ALPS07628586) through a system update. As this is a platform-level vulnerability in the radio interface layer, updating the Android system image is the only remediation path.
Firmware update from device manufacturer containing MediaTek patch ALPS07628586
- 1. Contact your device manufacturer (OEM) to request the security update containing MediaTek patch ALPS07628586
- 2. Verify that your device manufacturer has released a firmware update addressing CVE-2023-20642
- 3. Apply the manufacturer-provided firmware update through the device's system update mechanism
- 4. Confirm the update was successfully installed by checking the Android security patch level in Settings > About Phone > Software Info
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- 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-2023-20642 — 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-2023-20642 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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