CVE-2021-39624

Permanent denial of service via retained stage directories

Published Mar 16, 2022 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Resource exhaustion in Android 10 through 12L allows local users to cause a permanent denial of service in PackageManager. PackageInstallerService fails to remove abandoned installation stage directories when storage is low, so repeated package-install sessions leave resources allocated. User-level local execution is required, no user interaction is needed, and the resulting exhaustion can leave the device persistently unavailable.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.11%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in Android 10 through 12L allows local users to cause a permanent denial of service in PackageManager. PackageInstallerService fails to remove abandoned installation stage directories when storage is low, so repeated package-install sessions leave resources allocated. User-level local execution is required, no user interaction is needed, and the resulting exhaustion can leave the device persistently unavailable.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-39624
Published
Mar 16, 2022
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Google Cloud
Product
Android
Classifications
T1642
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 16, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=Android-10 Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google Cloud · Androidversion=Android-10 Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1642Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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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