CVE-2018-9445 Path traversal in Android

What is CVE-2018-9445?

CVE-2018-9445 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Google Android, published on 6 Nov 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In readMetadata of Utils.cpp, there is a possible path traversal bug due to a confused deputy. This could lead to local escalation of privilege when mounting a USB device with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Product: Android Versions: Android-6.0 Android-6.0.1 Android-7.0 Android-7.1.1 Android-7.1.2 Android-8.0 Android-8.1 Android ID: A-80436257.

Weakness: CWE-22

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-9445?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Google Android.

How do I fix CVE-2018-9445?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-9445 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2018-9445 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2018-9445 exists.

Public exploit code: 2 Exploit-DB entries.

Other vulnerabilities in Google Android

• CVE-2026-58704 Google Pixel Improper Authorization Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2025-48543 Android Runtime Use-After-Free Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2023-35674 Android Framework Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2025-48595 Android Framework Integer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2024-32896 Android Pixel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.1

All Google Android vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-xqhw-7jhx-gmrc.