CVE-2026-20454
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 race condition. 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: ALPS10873936; Issue ID: MSV-6786.
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 geniezone (an Android kernel component, likely a MediaTek-specific driver), a race condition leads to an out-of-bounds write vulnerability. Successful exploitation allows a local attacker with System privilege to escalate to higher privileges. The vulnerability does not require 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
- 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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Identify the Mediatek chipset modelCheck /proc/cpuinfo for 'Hardware' or 'model name', or read /sys/devices/soc0/soc_id or /sys/devices/soc0/revision to determine the exact SoC variantAffected if The chipset matches one of the affected models: Mt8673, Mt8765, Mt8766, Mt8768, Mt8781, Mt8786, Mt8788, or Mt8791t
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Verify geniezone is present on the deviceSearch for geniezone-related paths in /sys/fs/, /vendor, or /d/ directories; check if /sys/fs/geniezone/ exists or if geniezone appears in /proc/modulesAffected if geniezone is loaded or present on the system, as the race condition exists within this component
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Determine current privilege levelCheck the privilege context of your process using 'id', 'whoami', or inspect /proc/self/status for GID/UID and cap capabilitiesAffected if The process runs with System-level privileges (UID 0 or elevated capabilities), which is required as the starting point for exploitation
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Check for vendor patch ALPS10873936Search system build metadata, boot.img, or vendor partitions for the patch identifier; grep -r '10873936' or 'ALPS10873936' in /vendor/firmware or /system/build.propAffected if The patch identifier is absent from the system, meaning the vulnerability remains unmitigated
You are affected if your device uses one of the listed Mediatek chipsets, geniezone is present, and the ALPS10873936 patch 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.
dbcve · scopedApply vendor patch ALPS10873936. Ensure System-level processes adhere to least-privilege principles to reduce attack surface.
- Contact MediaTek directly or through your device manufacturer to obtain the patched firmware containing ALPS10873936
- Verify with your device manufacturer that the patch has been integrated into their specific firmware release for your device model
- Apply the firmware update through the device manufacturer's recommended update mechanism
- After updating, verify the geniezone component has been patched by checking the firmware version or consulting release notes
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-20454 — 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-2026-20454 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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