Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root Exploit Chain (CVE-2025-54957)
Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root (TL-2026-1544), also tracked as When a Door Closes, a Window Opens, is a critical-severity software vulnerability scored CVSS 9.8, first published 2026-07-19. It has no confirmed attribution, affects Google Pixel 10, references 1 CVE (CVE-2025-54957), maps to 14 MITRE ATT&CK techniques (T1003, T1005, T1068), and is covered by 9 detection rules and 16 indicators of compromise.
Key facts for TL-2026-1544
- Threat ID
- TL-2026-1544
- Also known as
- When a Door Closes, a Window Opens, Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain, VPU mmap boundary-check flaw
- Severity
- CRITICAL
- CVSS
- 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)
- Status
- PATCHED
- Category
- VULNERABILITY
- First published
- 2026-07-19
- Last reviewed
- 2026-07-19
- Attribution confidence
- LOW
- Motivation
- UNKNOWN
- Target sectors
- mobile-device-users, government administration, enterprise-mobility, consumer
- Target regions
- Global
- Detection rules
- 9
- Indicators of compromise
- 16
Malware and tooling in Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
Malware and tooling: N/A - exploit chain, not malware family, Chips&Media Wave677DV VPU hardware block
Google Project Zero researchers Seth Jenkins and Jann Horn chained a Dolby UDC integer-overflow 0-click RCE (CVE-2025-54957) with a missing boundary-check flaw in the Pixel 10 VPU driver's vpu_mmap() handler to achieve full root/kernel compromise from a malicious audio file, with the kernel privilege-escalation stage requiring only about five lines of exploit code.
How Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root works
In May 2026, Google Project Zero published a detailed writeup of a complete zero-click exploit chain against the Google Pixel 10, developed by researchers Seth Jenkins and Jann Horn. The chain has two stages. Stage one repurposes a previously-known Dolby Unified Decoder (UDC) vulnerability, CVE-2025-54957, an integer-overflow-driven out-of-bounds write (CWE-190/CWE-787) in the parsing of 'evolution' data inside Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) audio bitstreams. A crafted audio file processed automatically by the mediacodec pipeline overflows a length calculation, corrupting memory and allowing code execution inside the mediacodec sandbox with no user interaction. Porting this exploit from earlier Pixel 9 research to Pixel 10 required only recalculating library offsets for the updated Dolby library build, and substituting the classic __stack_chk_fail overwrite (blocked by Return Address Pointer Authentication / RET PAC on Pixel 10) with an overwrite of dap_cpdp_init, a one-shot initialization routine that can be safely hijacked without destabilizing subsequent decoding.
Stage two escalates from the mediacodec sandbox to full kernel/root compromise via a driver design flaw newly introduced on Pixel 10: the /dev/vpu character device backing the Chips&Media Wave677DV video processing unit on the Tensor G5 SoC. The driver's mmap handler, vpu_mmap(), calls remap_pfn_range() using only the caller-supplied VMA length, without validating that the requested mapping stays within the bounds of the VPU's actual MMIO register region. Because Pixel devices do not randomize the kernel's physical load address (no KASLR on the physical mapping) and the VPU register region sits at a fixed, predictable offset below the kernel image in physical memory, an attacker holding the mediacodec-context /dev/vpu file descriptor can request an oversized mmap and directly map arbitrary physical memory, including the kernel's .text and .data sections, into userspace. This yields an arbitrary kernel read/write primitive sufficient for full root privilege escalation, and researchers note the privilege-escalation logic itself required roughly five lines of exploit code and under a day of research effort once the design flaw was identified. Jann Horn found and confirmed the bug during a roughly two-hour audit of the driver.
The VPU driver was authored by the same vendor development team responsible for the earlier, structurally similar BigWave driver vulnerability on Pixel 9, indicating a recurring secure-coding gap in Android video-codec driver development at that vendor. Google rated the VPU bug 'High' severity (an improvement over the initially 'Moderate' rating given to the analogous BigWave bug despite equivalent impact) and patched it in the February 2026 Pixel security bulletin, 71 days after Jenkins' November 24, 2025 report — the first time one of Jenkins' reported Android driver bugs was fixed in under 90 days. Devices at or above the February 2026 Security Patch Level (SPL) are protected; devices at December 2025 SPL or earlier remain exposed to the full zero-click chain if the Dolby-side vulnerability is also unpatched, or exposed to local/sandboxed privilege escalation via the VPU bug alone regardless of the Dolby patch state.
MITRE ATT&CK techniques used in TL-2026-1544
Credential Access
Collection
privilege-escalation
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Privilege Escalation
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Discovery
T1082 System Information Discovery; T1083 File and Directory Discovery
Initial Access
T1091 Replication Through Removable Media; T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Execution
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution
Defense Evasion
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth
Impact
stealth
Resource Development
Reconnaissance
T1596 Search Open Technical Databases
defense-impairment
Affected products and versions in Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
- Google — Pixel 10
Vulnerable versions: December 2025 SPL and earlier
Fixed in: February 2026 SPL and later - Chips&Media — Wave677DV VPU (Tensor G5 /dev/vpu driver)
Vulnerable versions: pre-February 2026 Pixel 10 kernel driver build
Fixed in: February 2026 Pixel security bulletin driver update - Dolby — Unified Decoder (UDC)
Vulnerable versions: 4.5; 4.6; 4.7; 4.8; 4.9; 4.10; 4.11; 4.12; 4.13
Fixed in: Dolby UDC patched build post-January 2026 Android media framework update
Remediation for Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
Patches
- Google Pixel February 2026 security bulletin — fixes the vpu_mmap() boundary-check flaw (Issue #463438263)
- Dolby UDC vendor patch for versions 4.5-4.13 addressing the CVE-2025-54957 integer overflow
Immediate actions
- Apply the February 2026 Pixel security bulletin update on all Pixel 10 devices
- Verify fleet-wide Security Patch Level (SPL) is February 2026 or later via MDM/EMM reporting
- Restrict or monitor mediacodec sandbox access to /dev/vpu on devices that cannot yet be patched
- Block or filter untrusted Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) audio content from automatic processing pipelines where feasible
Workarounds
- Disable or restrict automatic media/audio processing of untrusted DD+ content until patched
- Apply SELinux policy hardening to further constrain the mediacodec context's access to /dev/vpu
Longer-term hardening
- Add mandatory bounds validation (requested mmap size vs. actual MMIO region size) to all custom SoC driver mmap handlers before they ship
- Require independent security audit of vendor-supplied video/audio codec kernel drivers prior to inclusion in Android builds, especially drivers from vendors with prior driver CVEs (e.g., the BigWave driver history)
- Deploy kernel image physical-address randomization / stronger physical memory layout entropy on Pixel devices to reduce the reliability of physical-offset-based kernel read/write primitives
- Expand fuzzing and integer-overflow static analysis coverage for third-party media codec libraries (Dolby UDC and similar) integrated into Android mediacodec
CVEs associated with Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
Weaknesses (CWE) in Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
CWE-190, CWE-787, CWE-131, CWE-284
Timeline of Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
- CVE-2025-54957, the Dolby UDC integer-overflow/out-of-bounds-write vulnerability underpinning the exploit chain's initial-access stage, is published, affecting Dolby UDC versions 4.5 through 4.13.
- Seth Jenkins (Project Zero) reports the Pixel 10 VPU driver mmap boundary-check flaw (Issue #463438263) to Google, following a roughly two-hour driver audit by Jann Horn that confirmed the bug.
- Android broadly patches the Dolby UDC vulnerability (CVE-2025-54957) in the media framework, ahead of the Pixel 10-specific VPU fix.
- Google ships the February 2026 Pixel security bulletin, fixing the vpu_mmap() boundary-check flaw in the Chips&Media Wave677DV driver — 71 days after the November 2025 report, the fastest fix time recorded for one of Jenkins' reported Android driver bugs.
- Second-wave outlets GBHackers, ByteIota, BeyondMachines, and CybersecurityNews publish deeper technical breakdowns of the exploit chain, amplifying detection-engineering awareness of the /dev/vpu boundary-check flaw.
- First-wave security outlets Cyberkendra and Cyberpress republish and analyze the Project Zero findings within hours of publication, framing it for a general infosec audience.
- Google Project Zero publishes the full technical writeup 'A 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 10: When a Door Closes, a Window Opens' (Issue #463438263), detailing both exploit stages, the RET PAC bypass via dap_cpdp_init, and the VPU driver flaw, and referencing the earlier BigWave predecessor bug (Issue #426567975) and the updated Dolby exploit proof-of-concept attachment (Issue #428075495) that ported the Pixel 9 attack to Pixel 10.
- TL-Intel Harness ingests the Project Zero writeup via the RSS hunt pipeline and opens threat TL-2026-1544 for research and detection coverage.
Sources cited for Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
- A 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 10: When a Door Closes, a Window Opens
- Google's Security Team Built a Zero-Click Root Exploit for the Pixel 10
- Google Project Zero Reveals Zero-Click Exploit Chain for Pixel 10
- Google Project Zero Details Pixel 10 Zero-Click Exploit Chain
- Project Zero's Pixel 10 Zero-Click Exploit Explained
- Pixel Bigwave BigO job_timeout UAF kernel write
- Google Project Zero Reports Zero-Click Exploit Chain for Pixel 10 Devices
- Google Project Zero Discloses Zero-Click Exploit Chain for Pixel 10 Devices
Threats related to Pixel 10 VPU Driver mmap Boundary-Check Flaw Enables Root
- usbliter8 — Unpatchable SecureROM Boot-Chain Code Execution on Apple A12/A13 (and S4/S5) SoCs via DWC2 USB DMA Underflow
- usbliter8 — checkm8-style unpatchable BootROM/SecureROM exploit for Apple A12/A13 (and S4/S5) devices
- July 2026 Patch Tuesday: Two Actively Exploited Microsoft Zero-Days (SharePoint EoP CVE-2026-56164, AD FS EoP CVE-2026-56155) Plus SharePoint JWT Auth Bypass CVE-2026-55040
Detection coverage for TL-2026-1544
As of 2026-07-19, Threadlinqs Intelligence publishes 9 detection rule(s) for TL-2026-1544 across Splunk SPL, Microsoft KQL and Sigma, covering 16 indicator(s) of compromise. The whole corpus is readable without an account; a free account unlocks full detection query text in Splunk SPL, Microsoft KQL and Sigma; paid tiers add raw indicator values, correlation and the MCP server. Threadlinqs MCP server · View plans.