Local privilege escalation via permission-review tapjacking
Published Dec 13, 2022 · Updated Apr 22, 2025
Improper UI-layer restriction in Android 10, 11, 12, and 12L allows local users to grant another app permissions through tapjacking. ReviewPermissionsActivity.onCreate permits an overlay to obscure the permission-review interface for a separate app targeting an API level below 23, so taps approve permissions for that app. Exploitation requires user execution privileges and interaction with the overlaid prompt, resulting in local privilege escalation for the attacker-controlled app.
Summary
What happened
Improper UI-layer restriction in Android 10, 11, 12, and 12L allows local users to grant another app permissions through tapjacking. ReviewPermissionsActivity.onCreate permits an overlay to obscure the permission-review interface for a separate app targeting an API level below 23, so taps approve permissions for that app. Exploitation requires user execution privileges and interaction with the overlaid prompt, resulting in local privilege escalation for the attacker-controlled app.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-20442
- Published
- Dec 13, 2022
- Updated
- Apr 22, 2025
- Vendor
- Google Cloud
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-1021, CAPEC-506, T1626, T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 13, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 22, 2025Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=Android-10 Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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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