CVE-2022-20109

Local privilege escalation via ION handle double free

Published May 3, 2022 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Use-after-free in MediaTek ION on Android 9.0 through 12.0 allows local users to escalate privileges without user interaction. During ION_IOC_ALLOC, failed output copying can make cleanup decrement and free an ION handle whose reference count has already reached zero. A low-privileged local process can trigger the erroneous cleanup path, resulting in privilege escalation without user interaction.

CVSS severity7.8
High
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

Use-after-free in MediaTek ION on Android 9.0 through 12.0 allows local users to escalate privileges without user interaction. During ION_IOC_ALLOC, failed output copying can make cleanup decrement and free an ION handle whose reference count has already reached zero. A low-privileged local process can trigger the erroneous cleanup path, resulting in privilege escalation without user interaction.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-20109
Published
May 3, 2022
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-911, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 3, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 3, 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 privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

4.6NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 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

CWE-911Improper Update of Reference Count
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

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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