Description

In Audio HAL, there is a possible information disclosure due to improper input validation. This could lead to local information disclosure if a malicious actor has already obtained the System privilege. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS11087533; Issue ID: MSV-8245.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "4.4",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-07T02:17:20.040Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-07T02:17:20.040Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A security vulnerability categorized as an information disclosure flaw has been identified within the Audio Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL).\nThe vulnerability stems from improper input validation procedures, which can be leveraged to expose sensitive data residing in memory to unauthorized processes.\nThe impact of this vulnerability is restricted to local exploitation scenarios; however, it remains critical due to the potential for bypassing system-level data protections.\nExploitation requires an attacker to already possess elevated System-level privileges on the target device, as the vulnerability cannot be triggered from a lower-privileged state.\nNo user interaction is required for a successful exploit, making the vulnerability effectively silent once the prerequisite System privilege is achieved.\nThis issue, tracked under Issue ID MSV-8245 and associated with Patch ID ALPS11087533, poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of system data handled or processed by audio drivers.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability is rooted in a flaw in the input validation logic within the Audio HAL component. When the Audio HAL processes incoming requests or commands, it fails to sufficiently sanitize or validate the provided inputs before utilizing them in memory-related operations.\nIn a standard operating environment, the Audio HAL serves as the bridge between the Android Framework and the underlying audio hardware drivers. By sending malformed or specifically crafted inputs to the HAL interface, a process already running with System privileges can trigger an out-of-bounds read or an improper pointer dereference.\nThe exploitation flow initiates with the attacker obtaining System-level access on the target device. Once this level of privilege is established, the attacker interacts with the Audio HAL interface—typically through IPC (Inter-Process Communication) mechanisms such as Binder—and transmits a payload containing crafted input parameters.\nBecause the input validation is insufficient, the HAL may interpret these parameters in an unintended manner, such as calculating an incorrect offset into kernel or process memory. This leads to the leakage of sensitive data stored in memory addresses that should be inaccessible to the calling process.\nThe payload behavior involves the systematic querying of the Audio HAL to disclose the contents of memory blocks. Since the HAL operates with higher privileges than standard application sandboxes, it can act as a primitive for an attacker to read data from memory segments that would otherwise be protected by hardware-enforced memory isolation or address space layout randomization (ASLR).\nPost-exploitation, the disclosed information could include sensitive kernel pointers, encryption keys, or private system data, which could then be utilized to facilitate secondary attacks, such as bypassing kernel protections or escalating privileges further if necessary. The vulnerability does not require network interaction, as the attack surface is entirely localized to the device's internal HAL communication paths.\nGiven that this flaw resides in the HAL, it affects the interface layer responsible for audio stream management, device routing, and volume control. The absence of strict input boundaries allows the HAL to be repurposed by a malicious System-level actor to perform unauthorized memory disclosure operations."
}