Description

In Audio HAL, there is a possible information disclosure due to a missing permission check. 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: ALPS11087632; Issue ID: MSV-8244.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "4.4",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-07T02:17:20.150Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-07T02:17:20.150Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A security vulnerability has been identified in the Audio Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) related to an improper access control implementation. The flaw stems from a missing permission check, which enables unauthorized access to sensitive audio-related data.\nThis vulnerability is classified as an information disclosure issue. If successfully exploited, it allows an attacker to gain access to data that should be restricted, potentially compromising system integrity or user privacy.\nThe vulnerability is limited to local exploitation; it cannot be triggered remotely. A critical requirement for this exploit is that the attacker must have already successfully compromised the system and attained System-level privileges. No user interaction is required for the exploit to execute.\nGiven that the attacker must already possess System privileges, the risk is categorized as significant for lateral movement or data exfiltration from an already compromised state. The vulnerability is tracked under Issue ID MSV-8244 and Patch ID ALPS11087632.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability lies in an insufficient authorization mechanism within the Audio HAL framework. Specifically, the component responsible for processing inter-process communication (IPC) or hardware-related requests fails to validate the caller's permission level before granting access to specific memory regions or sensitive metadata.\nIn Android-based architectures, the HAL acts as an interface between the framework and hardware drivers. By failing to perform a check against the calling process's security context, the Audio HAL exposes its internal interfaces to any entity that has attained sufficient local privilege, specifically the System user or group.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: An attacker leverages a pre-existing exploit or vulnerability to elevate their execution context to that of the System user. Once System privileges are acquired, the attacker interacts with the Audio HAL via the defined binder interfaces or system calls. Because the HAL does not verify the caller's specific permission tokens or capability sets for the requested operation, it proceeds to process the request as a legitimate system command.\nThis behavior allows the attacker to query or intercept sensitive audio streams or hardware status information that is restricted by the Android permission model. The missing permission check essentially bypasses the security boundary that isolates HAL operations from unauthorized system processes.\nThe post-exploitation impact is characterized by unauthorized information disclosure. Because the HAL operates with elevated privileges, the attacker could theoretically bypass DAC (Discretionary Access Control) policies. The lack of granularity in the HAL's permission verification mechanism allows an attacker with System-level access to bypass the intended security constraints of the audio subsystem. Exploitation does not require special triggering conditions or user intervention, as the flaw is inherent in the HAL's static request-processing logic."
}