CVE-2011-1823

google android

Published 9 Jun 2011 · updated 16 Jun 2026 · Analyzed

7.8 High · CVSS 3.1, NVD

Exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 8 Sept 2022, with a remediation deadline of 29 Sept 2022 for US federal agencies.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Description

The vold volume manager daemon on Android 3.0 and 2.x before 2.3.4 trusts messages that are received from a PF_NETLINK socket, which allows local users to execute arbitrary code and gain root privileges via a negative index that bypasses a maximum-only signed integer check in the DirectVolume::handlePartitionAdded method, which triggers memory corruption, as demonstrated by Gingerbreak.

References

android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/system/core.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b620a0b1c7ae486e979826200e8e441605b0a5d6 · Broken Link
android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/system/netd.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=79b579c92afc08ab12c0a5788d61f2dd2934836f · Broken Link
android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/system/vold.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=c51920c82463b240e2be0430849837d6fdc5352e · Broken Link
androidcommunity.com/gingerbreak-root-for-gingerbread-app-20110421/ · Broken Link
c-skills.blogspot.com/2011/04/yummy-yummy-gingerbreak.html · Exploit, Issue Tracking
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1044765 · Exploit, Issue Tracking
www.androidpolice.com/2011/05/03/google-patches-gingerbreak-exploit-but-dont-worry-we-still-have-root-for-now/ · Press/Media Coverage
xorl.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/android-vold-mpartminors-signedness-issue/ · Exploit
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/67977 · Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2011-1823 · US Government Resource