Preface: PowerVR is a brand of graphics processing unit (GPU) IP ( intellectual property) developed by Imagination Technologies. In the context of Android, PowerVR GPUs are integrated into mobile System-on-Chips (SoCs) by various manufacturers, providing the graphics processing capabilities for Android devices. It’s a key competitor to Adreno (Qualcomm) and Mali (Arm) GPUs in the Android market.
Background: The Android SDK and Imagination’s PowerVR DDK are both software development kits, but they serve different purposes. The Android SDK is a comprehensive set of tools for developing Android applications, while the PowerVR DDK is a specialized kit for optimizing and integrating graphics rendering with Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR GPUs.
A DDK is a set of tools and libraries provided by an operating system vendor to facilitate the development of device drivers and kernel modules. Kernel modules are pieces of code that can be loaded into the operating system kernel at runtime, extending its functionality without requiring a full system reboot. This is common in Linux and Android kernel development.
The PowerVR DDK (Driver Development Kit) Native Lib C Framework refers to the foundational libraries and tools provided by Imagination Technologies to facilitate the development of graphics applications and drivers for systems utilizing PowerVR GPUs.
Vulnerability details: Kernel software installed and running inside an untrusted/rich execution environment (REE) could leak information from the trusted execution environment (TEE).
- The scratch buffer (
pui8FWScratchBuf) is used by the GPU firmware for temporary data. - If this buffer is mapped or accessible from REE, malicious or compromised kernel software could read or overwrite data that should be protected within the TEE.
Official announcement: Please refer to the link for details