CVE-2026-20438 Race condition in MediaTek chipset

What is CVE-2026-20438?

CVE-2026-20438 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Google Android, published on 2 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In MAE, there is a possible out of bounds write due to a race condition. This could lead to local escalation of privilege if a malicious actor has already obtained the System privilege. User interaction is not needed for exploitation. Patch ID: ALPS10431920; Issue ID: MSV-5835.

Weakness: CWE-367

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-20438?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Google Android.

How do I fix CVE-2026-20438?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-20438 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2026-20438 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-20438 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-4c3g-mgjr-mchg.