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5.5
CVE-2016-5349: Android may allow privilege escalation via QSEE memory handling
CVE-2016-5349 · published 9 years ago
Summary
The Android operating system can incorrectly trust memory addresses passed to secure code, allowing a malicious app to trick the system into writing to protected areas. This can let an attacker gain higher-level permissions on the device. Updating Android to the latest version that includes the vendor’s security patch will address the problem.
What to do
The CVE record does not list a fixed version. Check the vendor's site or the advisory links below - a fix may already be released.
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions |
|---|---|---|
| android |
<= 7.1.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
Original advisory text
The high level operating systems (HLOS) was not providing sufficient memory address information to ensure that secure applications inside Qualcomm Secure Execution Environment (QSEE) only write to ...
The high level operating systems (HLOS) was not providing sufficient memory address information to ensure that secure applications inside Qualcomm Secure Execution Environment (QSEE) only write to legitimate memory ranges related to the QSEE secure application's HLOS client. When secure applications inside Qualcomm Secure Execution Environment (QSEE) receive memory addresses from a high level operating system (HLOS) such as Linux Android, those address have previously been verified as belonging to HLOS memory space rather than QSEE memory space, but they were not verified to be from HLOS user space rather than kernel space. This lack of verification could lead to privilege escalation within the HLOS.
References
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97364 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038201
- https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2017-04-01 Vendor Advisory
- https://www.codeaurora.org/insufficient-memory-address-information-prevent-arbit... Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
- https://www.qualcomm.com/company/product-security/security-advisories Vendor Advisory
Internet-facing
60 days
Internal
At next upgrade
- Not known to be exploited
- Needs hands-on effort to exploit (estimated)
- Gives an attacker partial control (estimated)
Type
CWE-200Information Exposure
Timeline
Published6 Apr 2017
Updated31 Oct 2026
First seen29 Sep 2026
Sources
CVE-2016-5349 · NVD
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