Local privilege escalation via freed key event reference
Published Sep 2, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026
Use-after-free in Google Android 13 and 14 allows local users to elevate privileges through InputDispatcher without user interaction. afterKeyEventLockedInterruptable releases the dispatcher lock before calling policy, allowing removeInputChannel to drain the wait queue and delete the last strong reference while an event reference remains. A local app can exploit this race without additional execution privileges; dereferencing the freed KeyEntry enables privilege escalation and can crash InputDispatcher.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Google Android 13 and 14 allows local users to elevate privileges through InputDispatcher without user interaction. afterKeyEventLockedInterruptable releases the dispatcher lock before calling policy, allowing removeInputChannel to drain the wait queue and delete the last strong reference while an event reference remains. A local app can exploit this race without additional execution privileges; dereferencing the freed KeyEntry enables privilege escalation and can crash InputDispatcher.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-22438
- Published
- Sep 2, 2025
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Google Cloud
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 2, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 26, 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=13
- Affected versionversion=14
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
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Your stack
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