Threats / Android / CVE-2021-1048
CVE-2021-1048
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Android Kernel vulnerability
Android kernel use-after-free vulnerability enabling privilege escalation. Actively exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A use-after-free flaw in the Android kernel permits attackers to escalate privileges through memory corruption. Active exploitation demonstrates immediate risk to deployed devices.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-05-234EPSS 0.00783 (verify live)5CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
5 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-05-23).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.00783 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Android, Kernel. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-416 Use After Free — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 159 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
Trigger a use-after-free condition in kernel memory to corrupt process state.
Business
Compromised kernel integrity exposes all user data and system controls to unauthorized access.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
Leverage corrupted memory to execute arbitrary code with elevated kernel privileges.
Business
Loss of privilege boundary enforcement eliminates security isolation between applications and system.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
Persist access by modifying kernel structures or installing rootkit-level implants.
Business
Device becomes permanently compromised, defeating all software-based security controls and user trust.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by google_androidCNA
Credited with finding itNo finder named in the public CVE record — the work behind this find is unattributed.