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CVE-2021-28663: Arm Mali Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) Use-After-Free Vulnerability

• Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: yes — in CISA KEV since 2021-11-03
• EPSS: 12.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: yes
• Published: 2021-05-10 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-416

Description

The Arm Mali GPU kernel driver allows privilege escalation or information disclosure because GPU memory operations are mishandled, leading to a use-after-free. This affects Bifrost r0p0 through r28p0 before r29p0, Valhall r19p0 through r28p0 before r29p0, and Midgard r4p0 through r30p0.

Affected products

• Arm Ltd Bifrost GPU Kernel Driver: from r0p0 before r29p0 — fixed in r29p0
• Arm Ltd Midgard GPU Kernel Driver: from r4p0 before r31p0 — fixed in r31p0
• Arm Ltd Valhall GPU Kernel Driver: from r19p0 before r29p0 — fixed in r29p0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Arm Ltd Bifrost GPU Kernel Driver r29p0; Arm Ltd Midgard GPU Kernel Driver r31p0; Arm Ltd Valhall GPU Kernel Driver r29p0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates
• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates/mali-gpu-kernel-driver
• https://github.com/lntrx/CVE-2021-28663
• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates
• https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates/mali-gpu-kernel-driver
• https://github.com/lntrx/CVE-2021-28663
• https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-28663

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