Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessInstall malicious app on affected Exynos device
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DeliveryInvoke DPU driver DMA buffer reallocation path
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ExploitRace condition triggers double-free of DMA buffer pointer
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ExecutionKernel heap metadata corrupted
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PersistUse-after-free condition achieved
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ImpactEscalate to kernel privilege or panic device
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Double free prevention
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires local code execution on an Android device powered by one of the nine affected Exynos chip families (1280, 2200, 1380, 1480, 2400, 1580, 2500, 1680, or 2600). The attacker must hold at least a low-privilege account (PR:L), meaning a standard Android user or an installed application with permissions sufficient to interact with the DPU driver's DMA buffer management path - no root or elevated privilege is required to trigger the bug. High complexity (AC:H) implies a race condition or specific timing sequence must be achieved during the DMA buffer reallocation event, which limits opportunistic and automated exploitation. Remote exploitation is not possible (AV:L); the attacker must have physical device access or an already-deployed application on the target device. No special non-default configuration is required - the DPU driver is active on all affected devices using their display subsystem. |
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 score of 4.2 (AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L) appropriately reflects the local-only attack vector and high exploitation complexity, though A:L appears conservative for a kernel heap double-free that can reliably panic the system. The Scope Changed metric is the most operationally significant signal: user-space code reaching kernel memory corruption via a driver bug is a well-understood privilege escalation primitive on Android, even if the complexity is high. The absence of a KEV listing and the lack of any public exploit or EPSS score in the provided intelligence both suggest no active exploitation campaign has materialized. Even a mid-sized mobile device management operation in gdynia should treat this as a medium-priority patch item - important for any fleet of Samsung Exynos Android devices but not requiring emergency out-of-band response given the AC:H constraint. The CPE undercoverage (NVD lists only Exynos 1280 while nine families are affected) means asset inventories relying solely on NVD CPE matching will miss a large portion of the exposed fleet; this is a notable gap defenders should compensate for manually. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker installs a malicious Android application on an Exynos-powered Samsung device, where the app makes crafted system calls to the DPU kernel driver to trigger DMA buffer reallocation under a precise timing condition. The resulting double-free corrupts kernel heap metadata, enabling a use-after-free primitive that can be leveraged for kernel privilege escalation or, at minimum, a kernel panic causing device reboot. No public proof-of-concept exploit has been identified at the time of analysis. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 14, 2026
Double-free in the Samsung Exynos Display Processing Unit (DPU) kernel driver allows a local low-privileged attacker to corrupt kernel heap memory and trigger a use-after-free condition across nine Exynos chip families spanning mid-range to flagship Samsung devices. Exploitation requires meeting a high-complexity timing condition during DMA buffer reallocation in the DPU driver, limiting practical attack surface despite the kernel-level impact. No public exploit code exists and this CVE has not been added to the CISA KEV catalog at the time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Apply the DPU driver firmware fix issued by Samsung via the product security updates portal at https://semiconductor.samsung.com/support/quality-support/product-security-updates/cve-2026-23790/. Patched version numbers were not specified in the available advisory data; consult Samsung Semiconductor directly or the Samsung Security Update Bulletin for device-specific patch guidance. OEM device manufacturers (e.g., Samsung Mobile) distributing Android updates incorporating this fix should be tracked separately, as the SoC-level fix must be integrated into Android security patches before reaching end-user devices. As a compensating control where immediate patching is not possible, restrict installation of untrusted applications via enterprise mobile device management (MDM) policy to deny untrusted APK sideloading, which reduces the attacker's ability to execute code that triggers the vulnerable DMA reallocation path. Note that this control does not protect against exploitation by an already-installed malicious app and carries the trade-off of reducing user flexibility.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
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Technical ContextAI · show details
The Display Processing Unit (DPU) is the dedicated display controller subsystem embedded in Samsung Exynos application processors, responsible for compositing and driving display output via DMA (Direct Memory Access) buffer operations. When a DMA buffer is reallocated within the DPU driver, a pointer to the original buffer is freed twice (CWE-415: Double Free), corrupting the kernel's slab allocator metadata. This corruption creates a use-after-free (CWE-416) window where subsequent kernel operations may access freed memory, enabling heap manipulation primitives. The affected CPE per NVD is cpe:2.3:a:samsung:exynos_1280_firmware:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*, though the vendor advisory expands coverage to nine chip families: Exynos 1280, 2200, 1380, 1480, 2400, 1580, 2500, 1680, and 2600. The CVSS vector AV:L/S:C confirms the kernel-scope elevation: a user-space process can affect the more privileged kernel component.
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L
Kernel heap double-free reliably causes kernel panic, warranting A:H over vendor-scored A:L; all other metrics align with the vendor vector.
Primary rating from Vendor (mitre).
CVSS VectorVendor: mitre
DescriptionCVE.org
An issue was discovered in DPU in Samsung Mobile Processor Exynos 1280, 2200, 1380, 1480, 2400, 1580, 2500, 1680, and 2600. A double-free vulnerability in the Samsung Exynos DPU driver (due to improper pointer management during DMA buffer reallocation) leads to kernel memory corruption and a potential use-after-free.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
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SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
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GHSA-cp33-7crq-f47m
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB