System privilege escalation via kernel use-after-free
Published Aug 11, 2022 · Updated Jan 5, 2026
Use-after-free in Android's exynos5_i2c_irq kernel handler allows local users with System privileges to gain elevated privileges. The interrupt handler accesses freed memory and performs an out-of-bounds write while processing an Exynos 5 I2C interrupt. Exploitation requires local System execution privileges on an affected Pixel device, needs no user interaction, and corrupts kernel-controlled memory.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Android's exynos5_i2c_irq kernel handler allows local users with System privileges to gain elevated privileges. The interrupt handler accesses freed memory and performs an out-of-bounds write while processing an Exynos 5 I2C interrupt. Exploitation requires local System execution privileges on an affected Pixel device, needs no user interaction, and corrupts kernel-controlled memory.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-20372
- Published
- Aug 11, 2022
- Updated
- Jan 5, 2026
- Vendor
- Google Cloud
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 11, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=Android kernel
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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