CVE-2018-9538 Memory corruption in Android

What is CVE-2018-9538?

CVE-2018-9538 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Google Android, published on 6 Dec 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In V4L2SliceVideoDecodeAccelerator::Dequeue of v4l2_slice_video_decode_accelerator.cc, there is a possible out of bounds read of a function pointer due to an incorrect bounds check. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Product: Android. Versions: Android-8.1 Android-9. Android ID: A-112181526.

Weakness: CWE-125

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-9538?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Google Android.

How do I fix CVE-2018-9538?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-9538 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2018-9538 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-9538 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-55ww-j5xf-75qm.