CVE-2023-20788
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 thermal, 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: ALPS07648734; Issue ID: ALPS07648735.
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 confidenceA use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel thermal management subsystem, caused by a race condition, allows a local attacker with system execution privileges to escalate privileges to root. The vulnerability exists in the thermal driver where improper synchronization leads to memory being accessed after it has been freed.
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= 12.0CVSS 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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Verify Android versionCheck system properties or /system/build.prop for ro.build.version.release or ro.build.version.sdkAffected if Android version equals 12.0 exactly (not 12L, 13, or other versions)
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Confirm thermal management is activeCheck if thermal subsystem is running by examining /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone* directories or using ' dumpsys thermalservice'Affected if Thermal zones exist and thermal management is enabled on the device
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Identify thermal driver in useCheck kernel config for CONFIG_THERMAL settings or examine /proc/config.gz if available, or review loaded kernel modules via 'lsmod' for thermal-related modulesAffected if The device uses a thermal driver that participates in the thermal_zone subsystem (CONFIG_THERMAL is enabled)
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Check for race condition windowMonitor thermal subsystem stability via logcat -b kernel looking for thermal-related warnings or race condition indicators during thermal zone updatesAffected if Thermal driver performs frequent temperature zone updates or passes that could expose race conditions
The device is affected only if it is running Android 12.0 exactly AND uses an active thermal management driver where the race condition can be triggered during thermal zone operations.
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 vendor patch ALPS07648734 to address the race condition in the thermal driver. Verify the patch does not introduce regressions in thermal management functionality.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20788 — 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-2023-20788 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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