CVE-2026-20453
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 geniezone, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a missing bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege if a malicious actor has already obtained the System privilege. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS10886526; Issue ID: MSV-6791.
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 missing bounds check in geniezone (MediaTek's secure execution environment) allows an out-of-bounds write. An attacker with System-level privileges can exploit this to escalate to higher privileges (potentially root or TEE compromise) without user interaction.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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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Identify the MediaTek chipset modelCheck the system-on-chip (SoC) information via /proc/cpuinfo, device tree files in /sys/firmware/devicetree/base, or system information utilities (e.g., 'lscpu', 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on ARM devices)Affected if The chipset is one of: Mt8673, Mt8765, Mt8766, Mt8768, Mt8781, Mt8786, Mt8788, or Mt8791t
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Verify geniezone TEE is enabledCheck for geniezone-related processes, services, or device nodes. Look for '/vendor/bin/geniezone', '/dev/tbase', or TEE-related logs in dmesg or kernel messages. On Android, check 'getprop' for tee properties or examine /sys/kernel/debug/tzdbg if accessibleAffected if Geniezone TEE is present and running on the device
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Check TEE firmware version if accessibleAttempt to read TEE firmware version via debug interfaces (e.g., /sys/kernel/debug/tzdbg, vendor-specific TEE logs, or through TEE client APIs if available). If using MediaTek's NDEBUG tools, check /proc/tee or /vendor/firmware/ for version stringsAffected if Firmware version cannot be confirmed as patched or is older than the patch ALPS10886526
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Assess System privilege exposureReview which users or processes have System-level (UID 1000) or root (UID 0) privileges on the device. Check /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and Android's permission model (e.g., 'dumpsys package' for system permissions). Evaluate if untrusted applications can escalate to System privilegeAffected if Untrusted or less privileged actors can obtain System privilege, enabling them to trigger the vulnerability
A device is affected if it uses any of the listed MediaTek chipsets (Mt8673, Mt8765-Mt8791t) with geniezone TEE enabled and the patch ALPS10886526 has not been applied.
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 MediaTek patch ALPS10886526 via firmware update. Since exploitation requires System privilege, also review and restrict root access and ensure secure boot integrity as defense-in-depth.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-20453 — 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-2026-20453 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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