Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessGain initial foothold on device
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DeliveryExploit separate vulnerability to reach System privilege
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ExploitTrigger SurfaceFlinger use-after-free
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ExecutionShape heap to control freed memory region
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PersistOverwrite security-critical data structure
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ImpactEscalate to root or kernel privilege
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires the attacker to already possess System-level privilege (PR:H) on the target Android device - this is an above-app-level privilege, not achievable by an ordinary installed application without a prior separate exploit. The device must contain one of the specific MediaTek chipsets: MT6881, MT6993, MT6858, or MT8668. Attack vector is local (AV:L), meaning the attacker requires code execution on the device in the System context before triggering this flaw. No user interaction is needed once System access is established. The key limiting factor is the high privilege prerequisite: this vulnerability cannot be exploited directly from an unprivileged or even user-privilege context and functions as a privilege escalation step within a multi-stage attack chain. |
| Impact | The provided CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) scores 6.7, reflecting the fundamental constraint that exploitation requires prior System-level privilege on the device. This is a chained attack - an adversary must first independently obtain System privilege (itself a non-trivial step requiring a separate vulnerability or app-level compromise), and only then can they leverage this UAF to move laterally to a higher trust domain. SSVC corroborates the limited urgency: Exploitation: none, Automatable: no, though Technical Impact is rated total - meaning successful exploitation fully compromises the device. In practice, this vulnerability is most useful as the second stage of a privilege escalation chain (e.g., from an unprivileged app → System → root/kernel), which is a well-understood attack pattern for mobile device full compromise. No EPSS data was provided in the input; KEV status is not applicable at time of analysis. Real-world priority is moderate for consumer Android devices on affected MediaTek chipsets, and higher for organizations deploying these chipsets in managed or high-value mobile fleets. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who has already achieved System-level privilege on an Android device running on one of the affected MediaTek chipsets (e.g., via a malicious application exploiting a separate System-privilege vulnerability) triggers the use-after-free condition in SurfaceFlinger to corrupt freed heap memory. By shaping the heap layout to place an attacker-controlled allocation in the freed slot, the attacker redirects execution or corrupts security-critical kernel or root-level data structures, completing full device compromise. No public exploit code exists at time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 07, 2026
Memory corruption via use-after-free in the Android SurfaceFlinger graphics compositor, present on specific MediaTek chipsets (MT6881, MT6993, MT6858, MT8668), enables a local attacker who has already obtained System-level privilege to escalate to higher privileges - potentially root or kernel - without any user interaction. Reported by MediaTek in the September 2026 Security Bulletin under Patch ID ALPS11123860 and Issue ID MSV-8890. No public exploit has been identified at time of analysis, and CISA SSVC rates exploitation status as none and automatable as no, consistent with the high-privilege prerequisite.
RemediationAI
Apply the patch released by MediaTek under Patch ID ALPS11123860, available via the September 2026 MediaTek Product Security Bulletin at https://www.mediatek.com/product-security-bulletin/September-2026. Device manufacturers (OEMs) must integrate this patch into their Android security update packages and distribute it to end users; end users should apply OEM-issued OS security updates for their specific device. Because this vulnerability requires the attacker to already hold System-level privilege, a compensating control for organizations is to enforce strict application vetting (block sideloading, use MDM policies to restrict app installation sources) to prevent the first-stage compromise that grants System access. This does not eliminate the underlying flaw but significantly raises the bar for the chained attack. No workaround that removes the UAF itself is available absent the MediaTek patch.
Affected VersionsENISA
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Technical ContextAI · show details
SurfaceFlinger is the Android display compositor daemon (running at System privilege) responsible for combining layer framebuffers from multiple processes into the final screen output. CWE-416 (Use After Free) indicates that SurfaceFlinger dereferences a pointer to an object after that object has been freed, causing heap memory corruption. On the affected MediaTek chipsets - identified by CPE cpe:2.3:a:mediatek,_inc.:mediatek_chipset:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* and specifically model numbers MT6881, MT6993, MT6858, and MT8668 - this flaw exists in MediaTek's vendor SurfaceFlinger implementation, meaning it is SoC-specific rather than present in upstream AOSP. Exploiting this class of vulnerability typically involves influencing the allocator to return a recycled memory region and then overwriting its contents to redirect control flow or corrupt security-sensitive data structures.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Local attack vector and high privilege requirement (System) are accurately reflected; full CIA impact from memory corruption enabling further escalation is warranted.
Primary rating from Vendor (MediaTek).
CVSS VectorVendor: MediaTek
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
In SurfaceFlinger, there is a possible memory corruption due to use after free. This could lead to local escalation of privilege if a malicious actor has already obtained the System privilege. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS11123860; Issue ID: MSV-8890.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.
Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.292 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.160 on Windows and OS X and before 11.2.202.466
Integer underflow in the MPEG4Extractor::parseChunk function in MPEG4Extractor.cpp in libstagefright in mediaserver in A
Android 3.0 through 4.1.x on Disney Mobile, eAccess, KDDI, NTT DOCOMO, SoftBank, and other devices does not properly imp
Integer overflow in the SampleTable::setSampleToChunkParams function in SampleTable.cpp in libstagefright in Android bef
Apktool versions 2.9.1 and prior contain a path traversal vulnerability when processing Android APK files. Malicious APK
An elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Android system (art). Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability
The AES-NI implementation in OpenSSL before 1.0.1t and 1.0.2 before 1.0.2h does not consider memory allocation during a
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.292 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.160 on Windows
Use-after-free vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player before 13.0.0.292 and 14.x through 18.x before 18.0.0.160 on Windows
Android 1.6 Donut through 4.2 Jelly Bean does not properly check cryptographic signatures for applications, which allows
luni/src/main/java/java/io/ObjectInputStream.java in the java.io.ObjectInputStream implementation in Android before 5.0.
The Broadcom Wi-Fi driver in the kernel in Android 4.x before 4.4.4, 5.x before 5.1.1 LMY49G, and 6.x before 2016-02-01
EUVD-2026-72204
GHSA-pg8r-wq7v-mq7g
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB