Threat reportVulnerabilityTL-2026-4932
Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain: Dolby UDC CVE-2025-54957 plus VPU driver mmap flaw (Project Zero)
Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain (TL-2026-4932), also tracked as Pixel 10 0-click chain, is a high-severity software vulnerability scored CVSS 9.8, first published 2026-10-31. It has no confirmed attribution, affects Dolby Unified Decoder (UDC), references 3 CVEs (CVE-2025-54957, CVE-2025-36934, CVE-2026-0106), maps to 4 MITRE ATT&CK techniques (T1106, T1203, T1404), and is covered by 9 detection rules and 8 indicators of compromise.
- CVSS
- 9.8/10High
- CVEs
- 3Referenced vulnerabilities
- Techniques
- 4MITRE ATT&CK
- Actors
- 0Not attributed
- Detection rules
- 9SPL · KQL · Sigma
- IOCs
- 8Indicators of compromise
Key facts for TL-2026-4932
- Threat ID
- TL-2026-4932
- Also known as
- Pixel 10 0-click chain, When a Door Closes, a Window Opens
- Severity
- HIGH
- 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
- Last reviewed
- Attribution confidence
- LOW
- Motivation
- UNKNOWN
- Target sectors
- government administration, technology, finance, news - media, civil society
- Target regions
- Global
- Detection rules
- 9
- Indicators of compromise
- 8
Malware and tooling in Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
Malware and tooling: RCS
How Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain works
Project Zero (Seth Jenkins) describes a 0-click exploit chain for the Google Pixel 10 (Tensor G5) that pairs the Dolby UDC integer-wraparound heap overflow CVE-2025-54957 with a kernel VPU driver flaw. The VPU mmap handler for Chips&Media Wave677DV silicon let userspace map arbitrary physical memory. The VPU issue was patched in the February 2026 Pixel bulletin, 71 days after the November 24, 2025 report.
Google Project Zero published 'A 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 10: When a Door Closes, a Window Opens' on 2026-05-13. It adapts the earlier Pixel 9 chain (published January 2026) to the Pixel 10 (Tensor G5). The research is a vulnerability analysis with public proof-of-concept material in the Project Zero tracker. The sources report no in-the-wild exploitation and no network IOCs.
Stage 1 is Dolby Unified Decoder (UDC) CVE-2025-54957, affecting UDC 4.5 through 4.13. When Evolution/EMDF data is processed by evo_priv.c from a DD+ (EAC3) bitstream, the decoder writes it into a buffer. The length calculation can wrap on 64-bit platforms, so the allocation is too small and the later bounds check on the write is ineffective. Later members of the enclosing struct, including a pointer written on the next syncframe, can then be overwritten. NVD scores it CVSS 3.1 9.8 (CWE-190, CWE-787). The trigger is 0-click: Google Messages automatically decodes incoming SMS and RCS audio attachments for transcription, which puts the Dolby decoder in the codec2 process (mediacodec SELinux domain, /vendor/lib64/libcodec2_soft_ddpdec.so on Pixel 9) on the 0-click attack surface. Pixel 10 hardening needed adaptation: because of RET PAC, the Pixel 9 approach of overwriting __stack_chk_fail was unavailable, so the exploit instead targets dap_cpdp_init, an initialization routine called once during decoder start-up, and offsets are recalculated for the Pixel 10 library version. Devices with a security patch level of December 2025 or earlier are affected by the Dolby stage.
Stage 2 is a kernel privilege escalation in the VPU driver for the Chips&Media Wave677DV video silicon in Tensor G5, exposed as /dev/vpu and reachable from the mediacodec context. By specifying a size larger than the register region in an mmap syscall, the caller can map as much physical memory as they want into userland, starting from the VPU MMIO register base. Because the kernel image's physical location is deterministic on Pixel, the .text and .data segments can be mapped and modified directly, which gives kernel code execution with minimal implementation effort. This is the Pixel 10 analogue of the Pixel 9 BigWave driver bug (issue 426567975, CVE-2025-36934). The VPU flaw is tracked as Project Zero issue 463438263, was reported 2025-11-24, and was patched in the February 2026 Pixel bulletin (71 days). The Pixel update bulletin published 2026-02-03 lists CVE-2026-0106, a High-severity EoP in the VPU driver, as its single fix; it appears to correspond to this issue, but the Project Zero article itself gives no CVE for the VPU bug.
Defensive notes: apply Pixel security patch level 2026-02-05 or later, which includes the VPU fix, and keep the Dolby UDC fix from the January 2026 patch level. Consider disabling automatic audio transcription or media auto-decode where policy allows. Detection on-device is limited. Telemetry of interest includes crashes or tombstones in the codec2/mediacodec process (libcodec2_soft_ddpdec.so), unexpected mediacodec access to /dev/vpu, and SELinux denials from the mediacodec domain. CISA KEV status for CVE-2025-54957 could not be confirmed from the feed fetch, so none is asserted. No CVSS exists in the source for the VPU issue, and HIGH severity is an analyst judgment.
MITRE ATT&CK techniques used in TL-2026-4932
Execution
T1106 Native API; T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution
Privilege Escalation
T1404 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Initial Access
Affected products and versions in Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
- Dolby — Unified Decoder (UDC)
Vulnerable versions: 4.5 through 4.13
Fixed in: Per Dolby advisory dated 2025-10-14 - Google — Pixel 10 (Tensor G5)
Vulnerable versions: Security patch level 2025-12 or earlier (Dolby stage); Before 2026-02-05 (VPU driver stage)
Fixed in: Security patch level 2026-02-05 or later - Chips&Media — Wave677DV VPU driver (/dev/vpu)
Vulnerable versions: Builds before the February 2026 Pixel bulletin
Fixed in: Pixel patch level 2026-02-05
Remediation for Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
Patches
- Dolby UDC fix delivered by the January 2026 Pixel security patch level (Dolby advisory CVE-2025-54957, Oct 14 2025)
- VPU driver fix in the February 2026 Pixel Update Bulletin (patch level 2026-02-05)
Immediate actions
- Update Pixel devices to security patch level 2026-02-05 or later
- Hunt for mediacodec/codec2 crashes and tombstones involving libcodec2_soft_ddpdec.so
- Review SELinux denials originating from the mediacodec domain
Workarounds
- Disable automatic audio transcription / auto-download of RCS and SMS media attachments on unpatched devices
Longer-term hardening
- Enforce minimum Android security patch level through MDM compliance policy
- Restrict or disable automatic media decoding/transcription features in messaging apps where policy allows
- Retire Pixel models that no longer receive monthly security updates
CVEs associated with Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
Weaknesses (CWE) in Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
Timeline of Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
- Dolby publishes security advisory for CVE-2025-54957 (UDC 4.5-4.13); Project Zero tracks it as issue 428075495
- CVE-2025-54957 published in NVD with CVSS 3.1 score 9.8 (CWE-190, CWE-787)
- Seth Jenkins reports the Pixel 10 VPU driver mmap flaw to Google (issue 463438263)
- Dolby UDC and BigWave (CVE-2025-36934) fixes land; Project Zero publishes the Pixel 9 0-click chain write-up in January 2026
- February 2026 Pixel Update Bulletin published; its single listed fix is a High-severity VPU driver EoP (CVE-2026-0106), patch level 2026-02-05 (71 days after report)
- Project Zero publishes the Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain analysis, with exploit code in the issue tracker
Sources cited for Pixel 10 0-click exploit chain
- A 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 10: When a Door Closes, a Window Opens
- A 0-click exploit chain for the Pixel 9 (Part 1)
- NVD: CVE-2025-54957
- Dolby Security Advisory CVE-2025-54957
- Project Zero issue 428075495 (Dolby UDC, exploit attachment)
- Pixel Update Bulletin: February 2026
- Debian Security Tracker: CVE-2025-54957
- SC Media: Zero-click attacks possible with Dolby decoder bug
- heise: Patchday Android - Driver vulnerability endangers Pixel smartphones
Detection coverage for TL-2026-4932
As of 2026-10-31, Threadlinqs Intelligence publishes 9 detection rule(s) for TL-2026-4932 across Splunk SPL, Microsoft KQL and Sigma, covering 8 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.