CVE-2022-20118Public exploit

Local privilege escalation via ION handle race

Published May 10, 2022 · Updated Aug 3, 2024

Use-after-free in the Android kernel ION driver allows local users to escalate privileges through concurrent ION ioctl requests. A race between ION_IOC_SHARE or ION_IOC_MAP and ION_IOC_FREE lets ion_handle_get_by_id_nolock return a handle that another thread frees before reference acquisition. A local process needs access to the ION device and must win the timing window; no user interaction or additional execution privileges are required.

CVSS severity7.0
High
EPSS probability0.08%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the Android kernel ION driver allows local users to escalate privileges through concurrent ION ioctl requests. A race between ION_IOC_SHARE or ION_IOC_MAP and ION_IOC_FREE lets ion_handle_get_by_id_nolock return a handle that another thread frees before reference acquisition. A local process needs access to the ION device and must win the timing window; no user interaction or additional execution privileges are required.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-20118
Published
May 10, 2022
Updated
Aug 3, 2024
Vendor
Google Cloud
Product
Android
Classifications
CWE-362, CAPEC-26, T1404
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 10, 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

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=Android kernel

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google Cloud · Androidversion=Android kernel

Published CVSS scores

7.0INCIBE-CERTCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.9INCIBE-CERTAV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-362Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
CAPEC-26Leveraging Race Conditions
T1404Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

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

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo