CVE-2022-20501

Local privilege escalation via phone-account tapjacking

Published Dec 13, 2022 · Updated Apr 22, 2025

Tapjacking in Android 10 through 13 allows local users to enable a malicious phone account by misleading a user with an overlay. EnableAccountPreferenceActivity.onCreate displays the phone-account enablement screen without suppressing non-system overlay windows. A malicious app with user-level execution must draw the overlay and induce user interaction, after which the phone account is enabled with elevated privileges.

CVSS severity7.3
High
EPSS probability0.13%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Tapjacking in Android 10 through 13 allows local users to enable a malicious phone account by misleading a user with an overlay. EnableAccountPreferenceActivity.onCreate displays the phone-account enablement screen without suppressing non-system overlay windows. A malicious app with user-level execution must draw the overlay and induce user interaction, after which the phone account is enabled with elevated privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-20501
Published
Dec 13, 2022
Updated
Apr 22, 2025
Vendor
Google Cloud
Product
Android
Classifications
CWE-1021, CAPEC-506, T1404
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 13, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=Android-10 Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L Android-13

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google Cloud · Androidversion=Android-10 Android-11 Android-12 Android-12L Android-13

Published CVSS scores

7.3CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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.

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 exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-1021Improper Restriction of Rendered UI Layers or Frames
CAPEC-506Tapjacking
T1404Exploitation 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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