High

Heap buffer overflow in Skia on Android 16

IdentifiersCVE-2025-32318CWE-122· Heap-based Buffer Overflow

CVE-2025-32318 is a critical vulnerability in Skia, Google's 2D graphics engine used by Android. The issue is described as a possible out-of-bounds write caused by a heap buffer overflow in Skia during graphics processing. The available reporting indicates the flaw stems from insufficient bounds checking before writing to heap-allocated memory, allowing adjacent heap memory to be corrupted. In Android's June 2025 Android 16 security material, the issue is tracked in the System component and classified as an elevation-of-privilege vulnerability. Publicly available content does not identify the exact vulnerable function or code path.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can corrupt heap memory in the privileged Android System context and lead to elevation of privilege on affected Android 16 devices. The issue is described as remotely exploitable and requiring no user interaction, so an attacker may be able to trigger the vulnerable graphics-processing path from a remote input source and gain higher privileges than otherwise permitted. Depending on the corrupted structures and exploit reliability, impact can include compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected device.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Primary mitigation is patching. Until updates are deployed, reduce exposure to untrusted remote content that can reach Skia rendering paths, prioritize devices with externally reachable or high-risk content-processing workflows, and rely on Android platform protections and Google Play Protect where available, as Google notes these reduce the likelihood of successful exploitation. Because the issue requires no user interaction and is remotely triggerable, there is no strong operational workaround equivalent to a full fix.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the Android 16 security fixes for CVE-2025-32318. Devices running Android 16 should be updated to security patch level 2025-07-01 or later, which is stated to include protection for this issue. For downstream OEM and carrier builds, integrate the corresponding AOSP patches for the Android 16 System component and deploy vendor security updates. Where Skia is separately maintained in a product build pipeline, update to the patched Skia version provided by the vendor or platform maintainer and validate the fix through regression and security testing after patching.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

GoogleAndroidoperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

4 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

4 SOURCESView more in app

cvefeed high severityNews

Sep 5, 2025

CVE-2025-32318 - Apache Skia Heap Buffer Overflow Remote Privilege Escalation

A heap buffer overflow / out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Skia that could allow remote privilege escalation without user interaction.

zeropath blogNews

Sep 5, 2025

Android Skia Heap Buffer Overflow (CVE-2025-32318): Brief Summary and Patch Guidance - ZeroPath Blog | ZeroPath

A critical elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Skia graphics engine on Android 16 caused by a heap buffer overflow, allowing remote privilege escalation without user interaction.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.

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Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity1

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2025-32318

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-32318

MITRE CWE · CWE-122

Heap-based Buffer Overflow

Vendor Advisory

source.android.com/security/bulletin/android-16