Local privilege escalation via hypervisor state validation
Published Mar 2, 2026 · Updated Mar 2, 2026
Privilege escalation in the Android kernel allows local users to execute arbitrary code on affected devices without user interaction. The pKVM hypervisor trusts host-controlled Memory Tagging state and its normal donation path accepts non-memory regions instead of restricting donations to memory. No additional execution privileges are required; successful exploitation grants elevated code execution and can compromise guests.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in the Android kernel allows local users to execute arbitrary code on affected devices without user interaction. The pKVM hypervisor trusts host-controlled Memory Tagging state and its normal donation path accepts non-memory regions instead of restricting donations to memory. No additional execution privileges are required; successful exploitation grants elevated code execution and can compromise guests.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-0038
- Published
- Mar 2, 2026
- Updated
- Mar 2, 2026
- Vendor
- Go standard library
- Product
- Android
- Classifications
- T1404
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 2, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 2, 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?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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