Use-After-Free in Samsung KNOX PROCA/FIVE
CVE-2026-20971 is a local kernel use-after-free vulnerability in Samsung KNOX, affecting the PROCA driver and its interaction with the FIVE integrity subsystem prior to Samsung SMR Jan-2026 Release 1. Reported analysis indicates the flaw is caused by a race condition during process integrity state transitions, including execve() and related task state changes, where a task_integrity object can be freed while another kernel path still retains and dereferences a pointer to it. Mentioned vulnerable paths include proc_integrity_value_read(), proc_integrity_label_read(), and a reset-file-related path, yielding practical memory-corruption primitives. Researchers reported that an unprivileged or untrusted local application could trigger kernel memory corruption, and that despite Samsung kernel control-flow integrity mitigations, controlled reallocation of freed memory was still achievable under certain conditions, including manipulation involving loading a non-executable/non-ELF file. Affected devices reportedly span a broad range of Galaxy models, including S9 through S25 and some A-series devices, across Android 13 through 16 on both Exynos and Qualcomm variants.
Are you exposed to this one?
Mallory correlates every CVE against your assets, your vendors, and active adversary campaigns. Know which vulnerabilities matter for you, not just which ones are loud.
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.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
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.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
23 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Use-after-free vulnerability in Samsung KNOX components PROCA and FIVE that allowed a local unprivileged application to corrupt kernel memory and potentially escalate privileges on affected Samsung Galaxy devices.
A critical use-after-free kernel vulnerability in Samsung KNOX PROCA/FIVE subsystems caused by a race condition in process integrity validation, potentially enabling kernel memory corruption and full device takeover from an untrusted application.
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Samsung Android kernel affecting Galaxy S9 through S25 devices.
A use-after-free race condition in Samsung KNOX kernel components PROCA/FIVE that can be triggered from an untrusted app, leading to kernel memory corruption and potentially complete device takeover.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.