CVE-2021-39620: Android Security Bulletin—January 2022  |  Android Open Source Project

Published January 4, 2022 | January 10, 2022

The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. Security patch levels of 2022-01-05 or later address all of these issues. To learn how to check a device’s security patch level, see Check and update your Android version.

Android partners are notified of all issues at least a month before publication. Source code patches for these issues will be released to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository in the next 48 hours. We will revise this bulletin with the AOSP links when they are available.

The most severe of these issues is a high security vulnerability in the Android runtime component that could enable a local attacker to bypass memory restrictions in order to gain access to additional permissions. The severity assessment is based on the effect that exploiting the vulnerability would possibly have on an affected device, assuming the platform and service mitigations are turned off for development purposes or if successfully bypassed.

Refer to the Android and Google Play Protect mitigations section for details on the Android security platform protections and Google Play Protect, which improve the security of the Android platform.

Android and Google service mitigations

This is a summary of the mitigations provided by the Android security platform and service protections such as Google Play Protect. These capabilities reduce the likelihood that security vulnerabilities could be successfully exploited on Android.

• Exploitation for many issues on Android is made more difficult by enhancements in newer versions of the Android platform. We encourage all users to update to the latest version of Android where possible.
• The Android security team actively monitors for abuse through Google Play Protect and warns users about Potentially Harmful Applications. Google Play Protect is enabled by default on devices with Google Mobile Services, and is especially important for users who install apps from outside of Google Play.

2022-01-01 security patch level vulnerability details

In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2022-01-01 patch level. Vulnerabilities are grouped under the component they affect. Issues are described in the tables below and include CVE ID, associated references, type of vulnerability, severity, and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID. Devices with Android 10 and later may receive security updates as well as Google Play system updates.

Framework

The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a local malicious application to bypass user interaction requirements in order to gain access to additional permissions.

CVE

References

Type

Severity

Updated AOSP versions

CVE-2021-39630

A-202768292

EoP

High

12

CVE-2021-39632

A-202159709

EoP

High

11, 12

CVE-2020-0338

A-123700107

ID

High

9, 10

Media Framework

The vulnerability in this section could lead to remote escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges or user interaction needed.

CVE

References

Type

Severity

Updated AOSP versions

CVE-2021-39623

A-194105348

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

System

The most severe vulnerability in this section could enable a local privileged attacker to install existing packages without requiring user consent.

CVE

References

Type

Severity

Updated AOSP versions

CVE-2021-39618

A-196855999

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39620

A-203847542

EoP

High

11, 12

CVE-2021-39621

A-185126319

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39622

A-192663648

EoP

High

10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39625

A-194695347

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39626

A-194695497

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39627

A-185126549

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39629

A-197353344

EoP

High

9, 10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-0643

A-183612370

ID

High

10, 11, 12

CVE-2021-39628

A-189575031

ID

High

10, 11

CVE-2021-39659

A-208267659

DoS

High

10, 11, 12

Google Play system updates

There are no security issues addressed in Google Play system updates (Project Mainline) this month.

2022-01-05 security patch level vulnerability details

In the sections below, we provide details for each of the security vulnerabilities that apply to the 2022-01-05 patch level. Vulnerabilities are grouped under the component they affect. Issues are described in the tables below and include CVE ID, associated references, type of vulnerability, severity, and updated AOSP versions (where applicable). When available, we link the public change that addressed the issue to the bug ID, like the AOSP change list. When multiple changes relate to a single bug, additional references are linked to numbers following the bug ID.

Android runtime

The vulnerability in this section could enable a local attacker to bypass memory restrictions in order to gain access to additional permissions.

CVE

References

Type

Severity

Updated AOSP versions

CVE-2021-0959

A-200284993

EoP

High

12

Kernel components

The most severe vulnerability in this section could lead to a local escalation of privilege due to a race condition, with no additional execution privileges or user interaction needed.

CVE

References

Type

Severity

Component

CVE-2021-39634

A-204450605
Upstream kernel

EoP

High

Kernel

CVE-2021-39633

A-150694665
Upstream kernel

ID

High

Kernel

Kernel LTS

The following kernel versions have been updated.

References

Android Launch Version

Kernel Launch Version

Minimum Launch Version

A-182179492

11

5.4

5.4.86

MediaTek components

These vulnerabilities affect MediaTek components and further details are available directly from MediaTek. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by MediaTek.

CVE

References

Severity

Component

CVE-2021-31345

A-207693368
M- MOLY00756840 *

High

Modem (Nucleus NET TCP/IP)

CVE-2021-31346

A-207646334
M-MOLY00756840 *

High

Modem (Nucleus NET TCP/IP)

CVE-2021-31890

A-207646336
M-MOLY00756840 *

High

Modem (Nucleus NET TCP/IP)

CVE-2021-40148

A-204728248
M-MOLY00716585 *

High

Modem EMM

CVE-2021-31889

A-207646335
M-MOLY00756840 *

High

Modem (Nucleus NET TCP/IP)

Unisoc components

This vulnerability affects Unisoc components and further details are available directly from Unisoc. The severity assessment of this issue is provided directly by Unisoc.

CVE

References

Severity

Component

CVE-2021-1049

A-204256722
U-1733219 *

High

slogmodem

Qualcomm components

These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm components and are described in further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm security bulletin or security alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm.

CVE

References

Severity

Component

CVE-2021-30319

A-202025735
QC-CR#2960714

High

WLAN

CVE-2021-30353

A-202025599
QC-CR#2993069 [2]

High

Audio

Qualcomm closed-source components

These vulnerabilities affect Qualcomm closed-source components and are described in further detail in the appropriate Qualcomm security bulletin or security alert. The severity assessment of these issues is provided directly by Qualcomm.

CVE

References

Severity

Component

CVE-2021-30285

A-193070555 *

Critical

Closed-source component

CVE-2021-30287

A-193070556 *

High

Closed-source component

CVE-2021-30300

A-193071116 *

High

Closed-source component

CVE-2021-30301

A-193070342 *

High

Closed-source component

CVE-2021-30307

A-193070700 *

High

Closed-source component

CVE-2021-30308

A-193070594 *

High

Closed-source component

CVE-2021-30311

A-193070557 *

High

Closed-source component

Common questions and answers

This section answers common questions that may occur after reading this bulletin.

1. How do I determine if my device is updated to address these issues?

To learn how to check a device’s security patch level, see Check and update your Android version.

• Security patch levels of 2022-01-01 or later address all issues associated with the 2022-01-01 security patch level.
• Security patch levels of 2022-01-05 or later address all issues associated with the 2022-01-05 security patch level and all previous patch levels.

Device manufacturers that include these updates should set the patch string level to:

• [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2022-01-01]
• [ro.build.version.security_patch]:[2022-01-05]

For some devices on Android 10 or later, the Google Play system update will have a date string that matches the 2022-01-01 security patch level. Please see this article for more details on how to install security updates.

2. Why does this bulletin have two security patch levels?

This bulletin has two security patch levels so that Android partners have the flexibility to fix a subset of vulnerabilities that are similar across all Android devices more quickly. Android partners are encouraged to fix all issues in this bulletin and use the latest security patch level.

• Devices that use the 2022-01-01 security patch level must include all issues associated with that security patch level, as well as fixes for all issues reported in previous security bulletins.
• Devices that use the security patch level of 2022-01-05 or newer must include all applicable patches in this (and previous) security bulletins.

Partners are encouraged to bundle the fixes for all issues they are addressing in a single update.

3. What do the entries in the Type column mean?

Entries in the Type column of the vulnerability details table reference the classification of the security vulnerability.

Abbreviation

Definition

RCE

Remote code execution

EoP

Elevation of privilege

ID

Information disclosure

DoS

Denial of service

N/A

Classification not available

4. What do the entries in the References column mean?

Entries under the References column of the vulnerability details table may contain a prefix identifying the organization to which the reference value belongs.

Prefix

Reference

A-

Android bug ID

QC-

Qualcomm reference number

M-

MediaTek reference number

N-

NVIDIA reference number

B-

Broadcom reference number

U-

UNISOC reference number

5. What does an * next to the Android bug ID in the References column mean?

Issues that are not publicly available have an * next to the corresponding reference ID. The update for that issue is generally contained in the latest binary drivers for Pixel devices available from the Google Developer site.

6. Why are security vulnerabilities split between this bulletin and device / partner security bulletins, such as the Pixel bulletin?

Security vulnerabilities that are documented in this security bulletin are required to declare the latest security patch level on Android devices. Additional security vulnerabilities that are documented in the device / partner security bulletins are not required for declaring a security patch level. Android device and chipset manufacturers may also publish security vulnerability details specific to their products, such as Google, Huawei, LGE, Motorola, Nokia, or Samsung.

Versions

Version

Date

Notes

1.0

January 4, 2022

Bulletin Released

2.0

January 10, 2022

Revised CVE table