CVE-2022-20052 in MT6580
Summary
by MITRE • 04/12/2022
In mdp, there is a possible memory corruption due to a use after free. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with System execution privileges needed. User interaction is needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS05836642; Issue ID: ALPS05836642.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/17/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-20052 resides within the mdp component of an Android-based system, representing a critical memory corruption flaw that manifests through a use-after-free condition. This type of vulnerability occurs when a program continues to reference memory locations that have already been freed, creating opportunities for malicious actors to manipulate program execution flow and potentially gain elevated privileges. The issue is particularly concerning as it requires only local system execution privileges to exploit, making it accessible to users who already have basic access to the device. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-416 as a Use After Free condition, which directly relates to improper memory management practices that can result in unpredictable behavior and security breaches.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple memory corruption, as it enables local privilege escalation through a carefully crafted exploitation process that leverages the freed memory references. Attackers can potentially manipulate the program's execution flow by controlling data that was previously allocated to freed memory locations, allowing them to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. The requirement for user interaction indicates that exploitation typically involves social engineering or tricking a user into performing specific actions that trigger the vulnerable code path. This aligns with ATT&CK technique T1068 which covers "Exploitation for Privilege Escalation" and demonstrates how seemingly benign user actions can be weaponized to achieve system compromise.
The patch addressing this vulnerability, identified as ALPS05836642, represents a critical security update that resolves the memory management flaw by ensuring proper handling of freed memory references within the mdp component. This patch likely implements additional validation checks and memory management protocols that prevent the reuse of freed memory locations, thereby eliminating the conditions that enable the use-after-free scenario. The vulnerability's classification as local privilege escalation means that successful exploitation could allow attackers to gain system-level access, potentially enabling them to modify system files, install malicious applications, or extract sensitive data from the device. Organizations should prioritize deployment of this patch across all affected systems, as the vulnerability creates a persistent risk for devices that remain unpatched and accessible to potential attackers.
Security practitioners should recognize this vulnerability as part of a broader category of memory safety issues that continue to plague mobile operating systems and embedded systems. The use-after-free pattern represents one of the most common and dangerous classes of memory corruption vulnerabilities, frequently exploited in mobile environments due to the complex nature of application lifecycle management and memory allocation patterns. The presence of this vulnerability in the mdp component suggests potential issues with how multimedia processing components handle memory resources, particularly when processing user-provided content or system events that may trigger memory deallocation followed by subsequent access. This vulnerability underscores the importance of comprehensive memory safety testing and the implementation of modern memory protection mechanisms such as stack canaries, address space layout randomization, and control flow integrity checks to prevent exploitation of similar flaws in the future.