CVE-2022-38181: Arm Mali GPU Kernel Driver Use-After-Free Vulnerability

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities

Name

Arm Mali GPU Kernel Driver Use-After-Free Vulnerability

Vendor

Arm

Product

Mali Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

Added to the catalog

2023-03-30

Due date for US federal agencies

2023-04-20

Weaknesses

CWE-416

Catalog version

2026.10.30

Arm Mali GPU Kernel Driver contains a use-after-free vulnerability that may allow a non-privileged user to gain root privilege and/or disclose information.

Required action (CISA)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Ransomware use: CISA does not mark known use of this vulnerability in ransomware campaigns.

Links in CISA's notes

• https://developer.arm.com/Arm%20Security%20Center/Mali%20GPU%20Driver%20Vulnerabilities
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-38181

Read on 2026-11-02T23:39:54.475Z under licence cisa-kev-cc0@b0067899 from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/feeds/known_exploited_vulnerabilities.json

NVD analysis

Status

Analyzed

Published

2022-10-25T19:15:11.487

Last modified

2026-06-17T04:56:14.803

Weaknesses

CWE-416

The Arm Mali GPU kernel driver allows unprivileged users to access freed memory because GPU memory operations are mishandled. This affects Bifrost r0p0 through r38p1, and r39p0; Valhall r19p0 through r38p1, and r39p0; and Midgard r4p0 through r32p0.

References

• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172854/Android-Arm-Mali-GPU-Arbitrary-Code-Execution.html (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
• https://developer.arm.com/Arm%20Security%20Center/Mali%20GPU%20Driver%20Vulnerabilities (Vendor Advisory)
• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates (Vendor Advisory)
• https://github.blog/2023-01-23-pwning-the-all-google-phone-with-a-non-google-bug/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
• https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2022-054_Arm_Mali/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172854/Android-Arm-Mali-GPU-Arbitrary-Code-Execution.html (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
• https://developer.arm.com/Arm%20Security%20Center/Mali%20GPU%20Driver%20Vulnerabilities (Vendor Advisory)
• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates (Vendor Advisory)
• https://github.blog/2023-01-23-pwning-the-all-google-phone-with-a-non-google-bug/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
• https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2022-054_Arm_Mali/ (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2022-38181 (US Government Resource)

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

Read on 2026-11-02T23:42:08.214Z under licence nvd-api-terms-of-use@ff2a5288 from https://services.nvd.nist.gov/rest/json/cves/2.0?cveId=CVE-2022-38181

CVE record

Assigner

mitre

State

PUBLISHED

Published

2022-10-25T00:00:00.000Z

Updated

2025-10-21T23:15:32.846Z

Problem types

n/a

The Arm Mali GPU kernel driver allows unprivileged users to access freed memory because GPU memory operations are mishandled. This affects Bifrost r0p0 through r38p1, and r39p0; Valhall r19p0 through r38p1, and r39p0; and Midgard r4p0 through r32p0.

References

• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates
• https://developer.arm.com/Arm%20Security%20Center/Mali%20GPU%20Driver%20Vulnerabilities
• https://github.blog/2023-01-23-pwning-the-all-google-phone-with-a-non-google-bug/
• https://securitylab.github.com/advisories/GHSL-2022-054_Arm_Mali/
• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/172854/Android-Arm-Mali-GPU-Arbitrary-Code-Execution.html

Read on 2026-11-03T02:01:34.577Z under licence cve-terms-of-use@81bfa2f3 from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/main/cves/2022/38xxx/CVE-2022-38181.json

Defensive techniques (MITRE D3FEND)

D3FEND maps these defensive techniques to the weakness (CWE) that NVD lists for this CVE, through the digital artifacts the weakness affects. D3FEND does not say they stop this vulnerability.

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