CVE-2018-21049Public exploit

Privilege escalation via unrestricted physical-memory copy

Published Apr 8, 2020 · Updated Aug 5, 2024

Arbitrary memory write in the Trustlet layer of Samsung Android 7.x and 8.x on Exynos devices allows attackers to overwrite privileged memory. The SecDrv secure driver exposes a physical-to-physical memory-copy API to every trusted application and performs only partial address validation. Exploitation requires control of a trusted application; the exposed copy primitive can overwrite the Linux kernel and the RKP hypervisor.

CVSS severity9.8
Critical
EPSS probability0.56%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Arbitrary memory write in the Trustlet layer of Samsung Android 7.x and 8.x on Exynos devices allows attackers to overwrite privileged memory. The SecDrv secure driver exposes a physical-to-physical memory-copy API to every trusted application and performs only partial address validation. Exploitation requires control of a trusted application; the exposed copy primitive can overwrite the Linux kernel and the RKP hypervisor.

The record

CVE
CVE-2018-21049
Published
Apr 8, 2020
Updated
Aug 5, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-787, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 8, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 5, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

10.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
9.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-787Out-of-bounds Write
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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