AndroidOperating system · Google

CVE-2023-20925

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
In setUclampMinLocked of PowerSessionManager.cpp, there is a possible way to corrupt memory due to a use after free. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.Product: AndroidVersions: Android kernelAndroid ID: A-236674672References: N/A

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 the setUclampMinLocked function of PowerSessionManager.cpp in the Android kernel. The function accesses memory after it has been freed, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited for local privilege escalation without requiring additional execution privileges or user interaction.

MitigationApply the Android kernel security patch for A-236674672 once available through the standard Android update mechanism. This is a kernel-level fix requiring vendor-supplied updates.

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
AndroidOperating system
Affected:all versions

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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. Check the running Android kernel version
    Run 'uname -r' or check /proc/version on the Android device to obtain the kernel version string
    Affected if The kernel version is older than the version that includes the A-236674672 patch (patch date unknown; compare against vendor release notes for the fix)
  2. Verify PowerSessionManager kernel module or component is loaded
    Check /sys/kernel/debug/power_session or look for 'PowerSessionManager' in /proc/kallsyms or kernel config: 'grep -i POWER_SESSION_MANAGER /boot/config-$(uname -r)'
    Affected if The PowerSessionManager component is present and the kernel lacks the A-236674672 patch
  3. Confirm the setUclampMinLocked function exists in the kernel
    Search for the function symbol: 'grep setUclampMinLocked /proc/kallsyms' or examine the kernel image for the exported symbol
    Affected if The setUclampMinLocked symbol is present in the running kernel
  4. Check Android security patch level
    Run 'getprop ro.build.version.security_patch' or check Settings > About Phone > Android security patch level
    Affected if The security patch level is earlier than the month when A-236674672 was released (vendor release notes specify the patch date)

The system is affected if the Android kernel lacks the A-236674672 fix and the setUclampMinLocked function in PowerSessionManager is present in the running kernel.

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

Apply the Android kernel security patch for A-236674672 once available through the standard Android update mechanism. This is a kernel-level fix requiring vendor-supplied updates.

Fix this in Android Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation16.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
44.0 hours of engineering $7,720
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20925 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-20925 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